The 2021 New Zealand National Party leadership election was held on 30 November 2021 following the removal of leader

Judith Collins Judith Anne Collins (born 24 February 1959) is a New Zealand politician who served as the Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the New Zealand National Party from 14 July 2020 to 25 November 2021. She was the second female Leader of the Natio ...

in a

vote of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

on 25 November 2021. Deputy leader

Shane Reti Shane Raymond Reti (born 5 June 1963) is a New Zealand politician and a member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, first elected at the 2014 general election. He is a member of the New Zealand National Party and served as its deputy ...

was made interim leader until the election. Simon Bridges was the only person to publicly announce his candidacy. About an hour before the National Party caucus was set to meet, he withdrew from the race and endorsed

Christopher Luxon Christopher Mark Luxon (born 19 July 1970) is a New Zealand politician and former business executive who is currently serving as leader of the New Zealand National Party and the Leader of the Opposition. He has been the Member of Parliament (M ...

Background

Judith Collins was elected

leader of the New Zealand National Party The Leader of the National Party is the most-senior elected politician within the New Zealand National Party. Under the constitution of the party, they are required to be a member of the House of Representatives. The current leader of the Nation ...

on 14 July 2020 following the sudden resignation of

Todd Muller Todd Michael Muller (; born 23 December 1968) is a New Zealand politician who served as the Leader of the New Zealand National Party and the Leader of the Opposition from 22 May to 14 July 2020. Muller entered Parliament at the 2014 general el ...

for health reasons. She went on to lead the National Party to its second-worst result in the 2020 election.

Opinion polling An opinion poll, often simply referred to as a survey or a poll (although strictly a poll is an actual election) is a human research survey of public opinion from a particular sample. Opinion polls are usually designed to represent the opinions ...

for National did not significantly improve in the following year and Collins' approval rating remained low. Instead, the ACT party made significant gains and leader David Seymour overtook Collins in preferred prime minister polling. This lead to frequent media speculation that a leadership contest was imminent, with former leader Simon Bridges and first-term MP

seen as the most likely candidates. A November 2021 Newshub–Reid Research poll of all voters as to their preferred National Party leader found that 40.7% favoured Bridges while 23.2% favoured Collins, with the rest unsure; of National voters, Bridges was on 41.8% and Collins on 39.9%. Late at night on 24 November 2021, Collins suddenly demoted Bridges and stripped him of his portfolios over a complaint about alleged comments he made to fellow National MP

Jacqui Dean Jacqueline Isobel Dean (née Hay, born 13 May 1957) is a New Zealand politician and the current Member of Parliament for the Waitaki electorate, where she represents the National Party. Early career Dean was born in Palmerston North. She has ...

in 2017. Dean had complained at the time and Bridges had apologised. Collins claimed she had the unanimous support of the party's Board of Directors in her decision, a claim which was later rejected by party president Peter Goodfellow. She planned to hold a press conference with Dean the next morning. Bridges and other MPs accused Collins of using the complaint for political gain. On the morning of 25 November, Collins was removed as leader by a

during a three-hour caucus meeting. She had held the position for 16 months. Deputy leader

was made interim leader until a leadership election was held the following week.

Candidates

Various MPs were discussed as potential candidates, including

Chris Bishop Christopher Bishop (born 4 September 1983) is a New Zealand National Party politician who was first elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives in 2014 as a list MP. Bishop won the Hutt South electorate in 2017 but lost the seat in 20 ...

, Mark Mitchell,

, and

Nicola Willis Nicola Valentine Willis (born 7 March 1981) is Deputy Leader of the National Party and Minister of Finance in a Coalition Government with ACT and New Zealand First. Willis entered the New Zealand Parliament in 2018, when she inherited Steve ...

, however by 29 November the race was believed to have come down former leader and

Tauranga Tauranga () is a coastal city in the Bay of Plenty region and the fifth most populous city of New Zealand, with an urban population of , or roughly 3% of the national population. It was settled by Māori late in the 13th century, colonised by ...

MP Simon Bridges, and first term

Botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

Potential candidates who did not run

Several National MPs openly discussed running or were speculated by the media as potential candidates but eventually did not contest the leadership. *

–

List MP A list MP is a member of parliament (MP) elected from a party list rather than from by a geographical constituency. The place in Parliament is due to the number of votes that the party won, not to votes received by the MP personally. This occurs ...

(since 2020), MP for

Whangārei Whangārei () is the northernmost city in New Zealand and the regional capital of Northland Region. It is part of the Whangārei District, a local body created in 1989 from the former Whangārei City, Whangārei County and Hikurangi Town coun ...

(2014–20), Deputy Leader (2020–21), Acting Leader (2021) *

–

(since 2018) *

–

(2014–17 and since 2020), MP for

Hutt South Hutt South is a parliamentary electorate in the lower Hutt Valley of New Zealand. It is held by Ginny Andersen of the Labour Party following the 2020 election. It was previously held by Chris Bishop of the National Party Bishop's victory was t ...

(2017–20) * Mark Mitchell – MP for

Whangaparāoa The Whangaparaoa Peninsula is a suburban area about 25 km north of Auckland, New Zealand. It had 30,672 residents in 2013, many of them in the eponymous town of Whangaparaoa on its southern side. It is part of the Hibiscus Coast. ...

(since 2020), MP for Rodney (2011–20), leadership candidate in

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

and July 2020

Results

The day before the caucus meeting the MPs were reported as being split with 18 to Luxon and 15 to Bridges, seen as an indecisive result. Following negotiations to avoid a contest, Simon Bridges withdrew and

was elected leader. At 409 days, this is the shortest period of time for an MP to ascend to the leadership of a major party after first entering parliament. Wellington-based list MP

was elected deputy leader. Luxon had asked her to be his deputy and National MPs knew they were standing as a joint ticket.

References

{{NZ National Party 2021 elections in New Zealand New Zealand National Party leadership elections November 2021 events in New Zealand New Zealand National Party leadership election