1987 New Zealand general election

1987 New Zealand general election

← 1984 15 August 1987 (1987-08-15) 1990 →

All 97 seats in the House of Representatives
49 seats needed for a majority
  First party Second party Third party
 
David Lange 1988 (cropped).jpg
Jim Bolger (blue background).jpg
3x4.svg
Leader David Lange Jim Bolger Neil Morrison
Party Labour National Democrats
Leader since 3 February 1983 26 March 1986 23 August 1986
Leader's seat Mangere King Country Pakuranga (lost seat)
Last election 56 seats, 42.98% 37 seats, 35.89% 2 seats, 7.63%
Seats before 55 38 2
Seats won 57 40 0
Seat change Increase 2 Increase 2 Decrease 2
Popular vote 878,448 806,305 105,091
Percentage 47.96% 44.02% 5.74%
Swing Increase 4.98% Increase 8.13% Decrease 1.89%

Results by electorate, shaded by winning margin

Prime Minister before election

David Lange
Labour

Subsequent Prime Minister

David Lange
Labour

Preview warning: Page using Template:Infobox election with unknown parameter "next_mps"

The 1987 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the 42nd sitting of the New Zealand Parliament. The governing New Zealand Labour Party, led by Prime Minister David Lange, was re-elected for a second term, although the Opposition National Party made gains. The election also saw the elimination of the Democratic Party (formerly the Social Credit Party) from Parliament, leaving Labour and National as the only parties represented.

1987 marked the first time that a Labour Government had been reelected to a second term since 1938, and the first to be reelected overall since 1946. This was in spite of the fact that this was the fourth consecutive election in which Labour won the popular vote.