Labour and Māori Party claim seats, National loses two MPs in final vote tally

Labour has built on its historic election win, the Māori Party has a second MP, and the decimation of National has worsened with the final count of votes cast in the 2020 election.

The official results of the election, including more than 500,000 special votes, were announced by the Electoral Commission on Friday.

National MPs Matt King and Denise Lee were out of Parliament, losing the Northland and Maungakiekie electorates, bringing the National Party down to 33 seats in Parliament. Dr Shane Reti will remain in Parliament as a list MP, despite losing the Whangarei seat. 

Labour claimed another seat in the House, reaching exactly 50 per cent of the vote and claiming marginal victories in three more electorate seats. Labour's Emily Henderson will enter the House having won the Whangārei seat.

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The Māori Party increased its share of the party vote to 1.2 per cent, meaning co-leader Debbie Ngarewa Packer will now enter Parliament as co-leader Rawiri Waititi retained his lead in the Waiariki seat.

ACT lost 0.4 per cent of its share of the vote, moving from 8 per cent to 7.6 per cent. The Green Party moved from 7.6 per cent to 7.9 per cent. 

The results of the recreational cannabis and euthanasia referendums remain unchanged. A majority voted against the legalisaton of recreational cannabis, 50.7 per cent voting “no” and 48.4 per cent voting “yes”.

There was a fractional change for the End of Life Choice referendum, with 65.1 per cent voting “yes” and 33.7 per cent voting “no” - a 0.1 per cent shift towards “no”. 

On election night, three weeks ago, there were MPs in several electorate seats -- Whangārei, Northland, Auckland Central, Invercargill -- whose fate hung in the balance with small margins.

Green MP Chloe Swarbrick claimed an unexpected win in Auckland Central, but with a margin of 492 votes Labour candidate Helen White was unwilling to concede. The final vote tally increased Swarbrick’s lead, to a 1068 margin.

The tightest race was Whangārei, with National’s Reti holding a 164 vote lead. Labour's Emily Henderson won by 431 votes after special votes were counted, but as Reti was placed fifth on the party’s list he will keep a seat in the House.

Labour’s Priyanca Radhakrishnan has won the Maungakiekie seat from Lee by 635 seats. In Northland, Labour candidate Willow Jean-Prime has beaten King by 163 votes.

National MP Maureen Pugh has at the previous two election lost her seat in Parliament at the counting of the special votes, only to return with the resignation of a MP.

A Flourish chart

The lowest-ranking list MP to scraped in at the 2020 election, there was speculation Pugh would again lose her seat.

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However, Pugh retained her seat on Friday.

Chief electoral officer Alicia Wright said the Covid-19 pandemic had discouraged people from voting, with 2.9 million people casting a ballot. 

The highest turnout since 1999 was recorded, with 82.2 per cent of people enrolled to vote casting a ballot. The final enrolment rate was 94.1 per cent, the highest since 2008.

“This was not a typical election, there were two referendums, another big increase in early voting, and for the first time people could enrol to vote on election day,” she said.

She said the commission had counted votes cast on election night had been counted again, with the special votes. 

Special votes include mail-in, overseas votes, and votes by people who voted in an electorate they are not enrolled in.

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