2002 New Zealand general election

2002 New Zealand general election

← 1999 27 July 2002 (2002-07-27) 2005 →
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All 120 seats in the House of Representatives 61 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	2,055,404 (76.98%) 7.79%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Helen Clark Bill English Winston Peters Party Labour National NZ First Leader since 1 December 1993 8 October 2001 18 July 1993 Leader's seat Mount Albert Clutha-Southland Tauranga Last election 49 seats, 38.74% 39 seats, 30.50% 5 seats, 4.26% Seats won 52 27 13 Seat change 3 12 8 Electorate vote 891,866 44.69% 2.94 609,458 30.54% 1.38 79,380 3.98% 0.21 Party vote 838,219 41.26% 2.52 425,310 20.93% 9.57 210,912 10.38% 6.12   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Richard Prebble Rod Donald Jeanette Fitzsimons Peter Dunne Party ACT Green United Future New Zealand Leader since 26 March 1996 21 May 1995 16 November 2000 Leader's seat List List List (lost Coromandel) Ohariu-Belmont Last election 9 seats, 7.04% 7 seats, 5.16% 1 seat, 1.65%a Seats won 9 9 8 Seat change 0 2 7 Electorate vote 70,888 3.55% 0.97 106,717 5.35% 1.14 92,484 4.63% 2.59 Party vote 145,078 7.14% 0.10 142,250 7.00% 1.84 135,918 6.69% 5.04   Seventh party Eighth party   Leader Jim Anderton Laila Harré Party Progressive Alliance Leader since 27 July 2002 20 April 2002 Leader's seat Wigram List (lost seat) Last election Not yet founded 10 seats, 7.74% Seats won 2 0 Seat change 2 10 Electorate vote 36,647 1.84% new 33,655 1.69% 5.21 Party vote 34,542 1.70% new 25,888 1.27% 6.47
Results by electorate, shaded by winning margin
Prime Minister before election Helen Clark Labour Subsequent Prime Minister Helen Clark Labour

The 2002 New Zealand general election was held on 27 July 2002 to determine the composition of the 47th New Zealand Parliament. It saw the reelection of Helen Clark's Labour Party government, as well as the worst-ever performance by the opposition National Party (the 2020 election would see it suffer a greater defeat in terms of net loss of seats).

A controversial issue in the election campaign was the end of a moratorium on genetic engineering, strongly opposed by the Green Party. Some commentators have claimed that the tension between Labour and the Greens on this issue was a more notable part of the campaign than any tension between Labour and its traditional right-wing opponents. The release of Nicky Hager's book Seeds of Distrust prior to the election also sparked much debate. The book examined how the government handled the contamination of a shipment of imported corn with genetically modified seeds. Helen Clark called the Greens "goths and anarcho-feminists" during the campaign.