This page is a list of elections and their subsequent parliamentary makeups in New Zealand. After the adoption of the

New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 The New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 (15 & 16 Vict. c. 72) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that granted self-government to the Colony of New Zealand. It was the second such Act, the previous 1846 Act not having been fully i ...

, which granted New Zealand self-governance, New Zealand has had a

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

ary system, with its first

election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has opera ...

1853 Events January–March * January 6 – Florida Governor Thomas Brown signs legislation that provides public support for the new East Florida Seminary, leading to the establishment of the University of Florida. * January 8 – Taiping Reb ...

. For a government to form, they must obtain the

confidence Confidence is a state of being clear-headed either that a hypothesis or prediction is correct or that a chosen course of action is the best or most effective. Confidence comes from a Latin word 'fidere' which means "to trust"; therefore, having ...

of a majority of the elected MPs in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. Initially, governments were formed through bargaining with individual MPs, however after the introduction of political parties in 1890, confidence was brokered through these parties when required. Until the introduction of MMP in the 1996 election, electors voted only for their

electorate Electorate may refer to: * The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate'' * The dominion of a Prince-elector in the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 * An electoral district An ...

MP; thereafter, party politics was formalised and third parties became viable, with electors now voting for both an electorate MP and a specific (and possibly unrelated) party. MMP changed the makeup of parliament such that outright

majorities A majority, also called a simple majority or absolute majority to distinguish it from related terms, is more than half of the total.Dictionary definitions of ''majority'' aMerriam-Webster coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

s or confidence agreements to form governments.

Key

Table

The following table lists all general elections held in New Zealand, displaying the dates of the elections, the officially recorded voter turnout, and the number of seats in Parliament each party won. Note that elections for Māori seats initially took place separately from elections for general seats.

Statistics

Current parties

Defunct parties

Unrepresented vote The unrepresented voters are considered the total amount of voters not represented by any party sitting in the legislature in the case of proportional representation. In contrast, the related concept of wasted votes generally applies to plurality vo ...

source

References

Footnotes

{{Oceania topic, Elections in Elections in New Zealand Government of New Zealand

Parliament of New Zealand