Māori Party makes come-back; National only the favourite in one electorate; Brownlee won't seek re-election as deputy leader

Final election results: Māori Party to return to Parliament with two seats, National loses more seats; Brownlee won't seek reappointment as deputy leader, Margin tightens on cannabis

6th Nov 20, 2:03pm by Jenée Tibshraeny

The Māori Party will return to Parliament with two seats, according to the final New Zealand General Election results.

Meanwhile National will lose two seats and Labour will gain a seat, compared to the preliminary results published on election night.

Epsom is the only electorate in which National received more party votes than Labour, and even here it was close at 37% versus 36%.

The final referendum results were the same as the preliminary results, however the margin in the cannabis referendum tightened to 48.4% yes and 50.7% no.

End of Life Choice came in at 65.1% yes, 33.7% no.

Following the results being published, Gerry Brownlee announced he wouldn't stand to be re-elected as National's deputy leader when Caucus meets on Tuesday. Brownlee was also National's campaign chair during the election.

“It’s time to think about the three years ahead. I want Judith to have the strongest and most complementary support beside her as leader," Brownlee said.

The Māori Party’s Rawiri Waititi took the Waiariki electorate off Labour’s Tamati Coffey. Māori Party co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer secured a list seat with the party’s overall vote increasing to 1.2% from 1.0% in the preliminary count.

Turning to National, Matt King lost the Northland electorate to Labour’s Willow-Jean Prime by only 163 votes. King won’t return to Parliament on this result, but is seeking a recount. National leader Judith Collins is supportive.

Shane Reti lost Whangarei to Labour’s Emily Henderson by 431 votes. Reti will return to Parliament as a list MP.

Denise Lee lost Maungakiekie to Priyanca Radhakrishnan by 365 votes. Lee won't return to Parliament.

Labour secured 65 seats, compared to 64 on election night, giving it four seats more than the 61 needed to govern on its own.

National secured 33 seats, compared to 35 on election night. The Māori Party got one more seat than on election night. ACT and the Greens secured 10 seats each - the same as on election night.

National's Maureen Pugh, who was near the cut-off point on the list, made it in.

In Auckland Central, the margin between the Greens' Chlöe Swarbrick and Labour's Helen White widen to 1068, dishing Swarbrick a more comfortable win.

The total number of votes cast was 2,919,086.

The number of special votes was 504,625, 17% of total votes.

68% of votes were cast in advance (2017 - 47%).

82% of people who were enrolled, voted (2017 - 80%). This is the highest turnout since 1999 (85%).

The final enrolment rate was 94% (2017 - 92%), the highest since 2008 (95%).

See a list of all the successful candidates here.

We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment

Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.

55 Comments

by xingmowang | 6th Nov 20, 2:11pm 1604625106

At least, NZ's election process is much cleaner than that of the US, and the election results are much more accurate as well.

However, I am pretty sure that NZ's house prices will keep growing, immigrants will keep coming in large, productivity will keep going down, and situation will keep deteriorating.

by dictator | 6th Nov 20, 2:34pm 1604626475

Long term I could easily afford to continue living in NZ, but it's worth looking at other countries for lifestyle and costs. For me it boils down to when I retire and what cost of lifestyle I would be happy with.

by Whatwillhappen | 6th Nov 20, 2:21pm 1604625672

Did Maureen Pugh stay in then, given King and Lee are out?

by Jenée Tibshraeny | 6th Nov 20, 2:31pm 1604626276

Yup - she makes it in on the list.

by Kate | 6th Nov 20, 2:36pm 1604626599

Yep, King and Lee were lower on the National list than her.

by gingerninja | 6th Nov 20, 2:21pm 1604625692

Ardern is a wildly popular leader and this was such a stunning victory for Labour and yet reading these comments the months leading up to election, with the constant derision, name calling and criticism you'd never have guessed.

These comments have become a really weird echo chamber of people who claim to the know the "truth" but yet keep being proven over and over to be so very far off the mark.

Perhaps they ought to question their sources that keep leading them to be so misinformed. It certainly isn't the reporting on interest.co.nz leading them astray.

by Te Kooti | 6th Nov 20, 2:26pm 1604625999

I agree, in fact you are one of the few I take any notice of.

by gingerninja | 6th Nov 20, 2:28pm 1604626122

Ha. I don't know s%$t, but thanks ;-)

by Gareth Vaughan | 6th Nov 20, 3:21pm 1604629282

Gingerninja, if you look back at comments from here a few years ago, at the height of John Key's popularity, you'd never have thought he was so popular either. I think we have plenty of contrarians hereabouts! Also I think some commenters are frustrated over key issues such as housing that whoever's in government things never seem to change.

by Te Kooti | 6th Nov 20, 3:38pm 1604630326

I'm onside with housing affordability being a major issue, that's not the point I was making. However comments almost exclusively focus on investors and the RBNZ as the cause, are frequently repetitive and ignore the fact that most of the cause lies elsewhere. If we want good quality housing within sensible commuting distance of Auckland CBD then we need to build infrastructure and change planning laws. Australia is often cited as a role model, but you can still buy a house within in 10km of the CBD much cheaper in Auckland than Sydney.

Sydney has just opened two major tunnels to the North and West. You want to drive from North Sydney to the Airport - that will be $24 each way.

by gingerninja | 6th Nov 20, 4:12pm 1604632352

And rightly so Gareth. I would guess that if Labour don't do something this time to address the housing issue, they'll go from hero to zero in record time.

by dictator | 6th Nov 20, 2:30pm 1604626242

National got the outcome they deserved. The primary problem for the Party is that the people that got them into this position are the only ones left with seats. National need to rethink how they create their party list. Nick Smith announced that he's back in as National has 10 seats from the party vote and he's the 8th. He and many others should be resigning as they've run the party into the ground.

The hate against the PM is just a Trumpian tactic that hasn't resonated with voters here. At least there aren't loud anti-democracy protests happening here.

by GV 27 | 6th Nov 20, 2:32pm 1604626361

Sorry, the fact that criticism isn't being more widely made doesn't mean that criticism isn't valid. For a number of people, myself included, there was no getting away from the sweeping promises and accusations of lazy and incompetent government being made by Labour in oppositon in the lead-up to 2020 and no mistaking the following 2.5 years of inaction and zero accountability from Ardern, all the while the media breathlessly reported on things like the Town Hall reset and 'The Year of Delivery' like these weren't just exercises in spin. Were it not for Covid, this government would have been defending a do-nothing, obfuscating administration that failed or walked away from almost every single key policy that saw them elected.

If you would rather have a spoon-fed channel of information where you are less likely to be reminded of objective reality, or even see Ardern held to her own standards that she set for herself and her government, then perhaps this is not the place for you.

by dictator | 6th Nov 20, 2:37pm 1604626642

The PM is popular but the effectiveness of the Government can be easily questioned. Without the idiocy of NZF we will see if Labour can manage to do anything significant this term. Although with their historic win they will soon reaslise that there is no way they will manage to retain so many seats by the next election (unless Collins remains the leader of National).

by Advisor | 6th Nov 20, 3:07pm 1604628428

Thanks to the doom-and-gloom predictions from economists back when the virus first hit, the Labour party is in a formidable position to claim responsibility for a faster-than-expected recovery.

The government can do nothing and let the pandemic take the fall for choking out our problem sectors that rely on mass movement of people through our borders; while its reforms (apprenticeship training, NZ upgrade, shovel-ready projects, R&D investments, etc.) gradually rebuild our economy.

Among others doing well, Mentis singled out primary producers, construction, the state sector, IT and technology, homewares and furniture, chemists, office supplies, internet payment companies and supermarkets.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/123309832/when-will-we-be-back-to-norm…

by muzled | 6th Nov 20, 2:38pm 1604626703

GV, option B was to have Judith Collins as PM of our country.

Are you saying you'd rather have her team lead us into the next 3 years?

by Advisor | 6th Nov 20, 3:24pm 1604629455

Collin and her team's competence was never in question because they promised to change nothing if in power. Doesn't take a team of experts to stick to status quo.

by GV 27 | 6th Nov 20, 3:54pm 1604631275

I'd rather have a competent government capable of executing medium-term nation-building policy, but it wasn't on offer this time around.

by gingerninja | 6th Nov 20, 2:55pm 1604627737

GV27 when have I ever said no criticism was warranted? Criticism is vital to the health of every democracy but it's not all been healthy criticism in these comments, not by a long stretch. There is a whole heap of ugly hate and misinformation here too.

I remain bitterly disappointed with the housing crisis and lack of Kiwibuild (among other things). I have mentioned it many times on here.

I am a swing voter. Sometimes I vote left, sometimes right, usually depending on who I think will be best for the country **in that moment**. The majority of NZ, including myself, decided that Ardern and Labour would be better in this moment, but that majority was not represented in these comments, hence my point.

I won't mind one bit if in 3 years and Labour isn't what is best (because they continue to fail on delivery) and National are voted in. National would have to reform and turn themselves around though because at the moment they are a mess.

I would love that regardless because we need strong opposition in a healthy democracy.

And I entirely reject and resent an accusation that I am spoon-fed anything or that I lack objectivity.

by Nzdan | 6th Nov 20, 3:55pm 1604631327

It's a bit like our Rugby supporters mentality, except the big difference is for some reason politics brings out some very nasty vitriol from people. At least in Rugby people just poke fun at Chiefs supporters without malice. Some of the comments I've seen against general "Labour voters" from National supporters have been horrific (and vice versa to a degree). Now that the election is over, it's all silence.

by Macawsley | 6th Nov 20, 4:47pm 1604634473

You're obviously not from Christchurch CV27- if you want to see what sweeping promises and incompetence looks like , come for a visit.
All enabled by the mice, now masquerading as aggrieved lions.

by Casual Observer | 6th Nov 20, 3:08pm 1604628515

gingerninja - People usually only know the views of those they meet and that becomes their 'truth'. It is very much a huge silent majority who read this site. 'Wildly popular leader', maybe, maybe not. There were people who party voted Labour not because they supported Ardern, but because they saw an outright Labour win as a lesser of two evils - outright Labour win, or a Labour/Green coalition. National were never going to win, especially towards the end so a national party vote was seen by some as a wasted vote. It will be interesting to see how things will be leading up to the 2023 election. Currently there is no other party within a bulls roar of showing they could topple her. Act are numerically too spare on the ground geographically, Greens appear to only half heartedly contest the majority of seats they stand in - give me the party vote was the call I heard from them around here, and National well......... As a farmer, I didn't rate Bennet as a Minister of Ag at all, preferred Labour's O'Connor, even though he thinks at macro level and isn't in to the detail too much. On the plus side O'Connor prefers to get grassroots farmer views directly, rather than rely on officials/industry bodies. IMO we haven't had a good National Minister of Ag for many, many years.

by JimboJones | 6th Nov 20, 3:16pm 1604628960

I doubt that many people voted Labour just to prevent the greens. Even if they did, the reason they had to is because Labour was so far ahead in the first place.

by waymad | 7th Nov 20, 4:36pm 1604720200

Um, check the per-electorate result in the entire South Island, JJ. Them farmers certainly party-voted Red to block Green......unprecedented. The Gnats held onto a few electorate seats, but lost a couple of previous certainties, too. Strategic voting was simply Yuge....

by paashaas | 6th Nov 20, 3:19pm 1604629192

You have not actually ever addressed any of the criticisms of Adern made on substance.
Your main / only argument is that as she "is a wildly popular leader and this was such a stunning victory for Labour " everyone who criticizes her is wrong by definition / lives in an echo chamber.
I do not buy this .

by gingerninja | 6th Nov 20, 4:08pm 1604632093

I am not making an argument. I've made an observation that the views expressed in these comments are markedly different to the electorate.
I don't need to prove that Ardern is a popular leader, there are ample of polls that prove that.

There have been months and months and months of of derisive comments on Ardern. But i love how you twist my comment to suggest I am somehow suggesting she is above criticism and avoid my comment on the hate and derision. For example, much of the criticism just involves constant mockery about her comments on kindness. That's hardly substantive criticism.

I have my own criticisms of Ardern and Labour, which I have made here. However, I don't live in an echo chamber where I can have my own views and beliefs reflected back at me, frankly that's a bit like sniffing your own farts. But so I wasn't surprised that Labour won so decisively. My comment is, that if you based your prediction on the election on the views expressed in these comments, you'd have been far wide of the mark. I am not in anyway denying that Ardern should be criticised.

by paashaas | 6th Nov 20, 5:19pm 1604636396

Nice backpedaling - markedly different what you actually posted in the first place.

It also quite telling that while you object to derision etc. your next sentence refers to " .. sniffing your own farts.". So much for calling for civility - apparently that only applies to one side.

by gingerninja | 6th Nov 20, 6:15pm 1604639734

Nope. Nopity nope nope. But nice try. Let's break it down shall we.

"Ardern is a wildly popular leader and this was such a stunning victory for Labour and yet reading these comments the months leading up to election, with the constant derision, name calling and criticism you'd never have guessed".

There is zero comment here regarding whether I support anything Arden has or hasn't done. Only a comment on the fact that she is a wildly popular leader who won a very decisive victory, which was not even remotely represented in the regular comments here. This isn't subject to subjective opinion, polls on Arden's popularity are clear, as is the extent of the Labour victory.

"These comments have become a really weird echo chamber of people who claim to the know the "truth" but yet keep being proven over and over to be so very far off the mark".

Again, no comment on Arden or Labour, just a comment from how much the comments here diverge from what was born out in the election.

"Perhaps they ought to question their sources that keep leading them to be so misinformed. It certainly isn't the reporting on interest.co.nz leading them astray".

Just good advise for life I would suggest. Never drink the kool-aid. Get your news from wide variety of sources to challenge your own assumptions.

My news consumption on the US election for instance includes Fox News (quite right wing, and often fast and loose with the facts, very Pro-Trump), NYT's (mostly factual, center left bias), Trump twitter feed (Trump biased and mostly unfactual), Financial Times (hardly any political bias, highly factual), Bloomberg (bit of column A, bit of Column B), BBC (kinda mostly factual, increasingly left biased and distorting plus frankly increasingly silly), RNZ (mostly factual, mostly unbiased). Stuff and Herald ( both silly but tells you something about the pulse of the Kiwi) RT (Russia manipulated media, tells you the Russian agenda, sometimes factual, usually fact mixed with Russian agenda), South China post (same as RT but for Chinese political agenda). I also randomly follow various financial blogs, Collaborative Fund, Alhambra Partners, Ray Dalio etc.

You can try and make up a fantasy strawman argument that I am some kind of heavily biased Arden supporter just because I suggest there are rampant echo chamber biases going on in the comments here if that comforts you.

Sniffing your own farts as a metaphor for echo chamber news digestion is mild satire humour. Not derision. I haven't aimed it at anyone personally. It would apply to anyone who drank the koolaid of biased media outlets and claimed to have the pulse of the nation.

by paashaas | 6th Nov 20, 7:49pm 1604645397

"Nope. Nopity nope nope" - very eloquent . Well argued - I think we are all convinced now.

And yes - I will continue to criticize the Dear Leader ; the appeals to "kindness" in particular deserve nothing but derision - they are simply an attempted diversion from the broken promises and general incompetence she presides upon.

by JoolzT | 7th Nov 20, 12:41pm 1604706076

It's early days yet. As for "general incompetence", there's a textbook example unfolding in the UK.

by Kotare | 6th Nov 20, 9:58pm 1604653134

I just can't deal with her mansplaining. It's raw to hear - particularly after a decade of Alison Mau implying I should hate myself for doing it.

by Uninterested | 6th Nov 20, 2:22pm 1604625723

I no doubt will get hammered for this opinion, but Denise Lee's email in my view showed a lack of judgement. So I personally think that this outcome is OK.

by JimboJones | 6th Nov 20, 2:38pm 1604626720

Well it is a Friday afternoon...

by Te Kooti | 6th Nov 20, 2:23pm 1604625834

Mauri ora!

by kpnuts | 6th Nov 20, 2:39pm 1604626761

looks like the boomers had their revenge on Chloe! nice to see the Maori party back they need an independent voice - their Labour MP's achieved little for Maoridom in the last three years - Fair to say though - looks like everyone got what they deserved in the end!

Jacinda - not Labour -- got a well deserved 50% for beating Covid
National got wiped for fighting amongst itself and being incompetent in opposition
David Seymour got some friends - deserved for pulling the end of life bill together and actually making good suggestions
The Greens managed to get more new young idealists in - to replace those growing into FHB and leaving them
Winnie got a well deserved slap in the face for choosing Labour over National leaving him with only the 2% who actually like his ideas!

by BigDaddy | 6th Nov 20, 2:40pm 1604626811

The problem for Labour, and Adern not to mention the Greens, is that their huge popularity and love can lead to disappointment and loathing very quickly. They have a massive job on their hands to keep that love and admiration up there without relying on Covid, or more dreadful events in order to bolster their popularity. It's hard to believe that their current popularity will stay as high as it is now or go even higher. It is more likely to slowly whittle away bit by bit. Good luck to them.

by gingerninja | 6th Nov 20, 3:01pm 1604628068

It's not a problem for me personally. That's just democracy and the will of the people. If Labour don't deliver then love should rightly lead to disappointment. IMO they have been given a strong mandate because;

a. They have delivered a better pandemic result than most other countries in the world with strong Arden leadership. It wasn't perfect but compared to the rest? It looked AMAZING.
b. National are a mess
c. Kiwis usually give a party a second term to deliver whatever it is they are working on. 3 years isn't long to get things done.

by Uninterested | 6th Nov 20, 7:37pm 1604644627

Hello! Points 1,2 OK.
I do not agree with the way point 3 is written. You make it sound deliberate. I think an awful lot of chance comes into things like that. eg Economics, Ministers transgressions, Corruption coming to light, policies turning out to be a load of old cobblers etc etc.

by Kate | 6th Nov 20, 2:42pm 1604626920

Great to see Māori Party back with 2 seats.

by CJ099 | 6th Nov 20, 3:51pm 1604631080

Yes I'm amazed that the NZ Government could allow them not to be present, shouldn't they have a permeant seats as standard.

by youngdumbandbroke | 6th Nov 20, 4:00pm 1604631631

Permanent? Slippery slope that we've already embarked on in NZ where politicians are deciding one race has more privileges than another. I understand there needs to be equal opportunity for everyone but the way we're going about it we risk polarising our society.

by CJ099 | 6th Nov 20, 4:19pm 1604632740

Fair enough, though by the same toke other native Kiwis could be in the minority within the next generations as were slowly sold off.

by youngdumbandbroke | 6th Nov 20, 8:20pm 1604647232

Yes I agree. I think the very identity us as kiwis is being eroded at a great rate of knots by vested interests of the few powerful. All for numbers on a screen.

by JimboJones | 6th Nov 20, 4:21pm 1604632919

It's not about deciding one race has more privileges than another, its about giving Maori a voice even though they have been totally outnumbered by us white folk. (Not that the Maori party should have special treatment, I assume CJ was being sarcastic. But Maori do have special electorates).

by redcows1 | 6th Nov 20, 5:30pm 1604637005

But importantly they only get the same number of votes as every other person. No extra votes no extra privilege. Our system is divided in a number of ways, Maori electorates simply being one.

by CourtJester | 6th Nov 20, 3:49pm 1604630957

Now that the cannabis referendum is pretty much 50-50, is there any chance of a revised, more strict legislation coming up to be voted on in a few years?
Especially since many of the 'no' voters will be dead in a few years anyway (the ratio of 'no' votes was much higher in the 70+ year old age groups)...

by JimboJones | 6th Nov 20, 4:25pm 1604633107

Why not just legalise it now? The population are roughly 50/50 on it, the Prime Minister thinks its a good idea (and I imagine a lot of her party do too). Why is 50% support some kind of special requirement? Its not for other laws that get passed...

by Uninterested | 6th Nov 20, 4:47pm 1604634479

Sorry. You lost.

by muzled | 6th Nov 20, 5:11pm 1604635895

No. NZ as a country lost.

But you keep pretending you 'won'.

by CourtJester | 6th Nov 20, 5:26pm 1604636804

Everyone who hasn't already been selling weed has lost.

by redcows1 | 6th Nov 20, 5:33pm 1604637227

Surely got to be some more reform, anything else is head in the sand.Theres a problem damnit, at least attempt a fix.

by Wilco | 6th Nov 20, 7:30pm 1604644247

Maybe National will wake up and realize they can't take provinces like Northland for granted. Sad to see Matt miss out, he works hard in the electorate, unlike other National wannabes who focused on their profile in Wellington.
Look at the number of Labour list MPs who worked hard in their communities and shifted across to win as electorate candidates.

by KH | 7th Nov 20, 7:50am 1604688640

Only hope for National is if Brownlee, Smith and some others resign, bringing some newbies in. Even the then might not be many or enough.

by sharetrader | 7th Nov 20, 9:42am 1604695373

those two should have moved on long before now, but they do not see it and that is the problem with national, for all the talk about talent they have a lot of dead wood in the way keeping it out.
brownlee should be booted now for the disaster of a campaign, records have been broken all over the place by labour in MMP. first party to get 50% of the vote , first party able to govern alone, loss of true blue seats, northland, whangarei, northcote and judith should follow in a year when a newer better leader is identified

by scarfie | 7th Nov 20, 3:27pm 1604716069

I've just seen that Matt King won't be asking for a recount and has graciously congratulated Willow Jean Prime.

I was on section with Matt when a junior Constable at the North Shore of Auckland and he was always a diligent and intelligent officer. I believe he carried across work ethic across to his political duties. I did at times think he lost his way in engaging in negative politics, which to me was against his general disposition. He was really an upbeat sort of guy, and fun to work with because of this. I recall his advice that if you are doing your job you should average an arrest every two shifts, and it was work ethic I personally carried through my short career. He can't drive to save himself mind you :-P

I'd personally have picked him as furture PM material, he can be highly charismatic and as intelligent as our past couple of PM's. I'm apolitical, but I think politics has lost a hard working MP and potential minister.