The 2017 New Zealand general election took place on Saturday 23 September 2017 to determine the membership of the 52nd New Zealand Parliament. The previous parliament was elected on 20 September 2014 and was officially dissolved on 22 August 2017. Voters elected 120 members to the House of Representatives under New Zealand's mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting system, a proportional representation system in which 71 members were elected from single-member electorates and 49 members were elected from closed party lists. Around 3.57 million people were registered to vote in the election, with 2.63 million (79.8%) turning out. Advance voting proved popular, with 1.24 million votes cast before election day, more than the previous two elections combined.
Prior to the election, the centre-right National Party, led by Prime Minister Bill English, had governed since 2008 in a minority government with confidence and supply from the Māori, ACT and United Future parties. It was the first election for English as incumbent prime minister, having replaced John Key on 12 December 2016 and the first since 1975 where both major parties had leadership changes. The main opposition parties to the National government were Labour (the official opposition), led by Jacinda Ardern, the Green Party, and New Zealand First.
The National Party won a plurality of the seats with 56, down from 60 in 2014. Labour made large gains following Jacinda Ardern becoming the party leader seven weeks prior to the election, increasing its representation from 32 to 46 seats. Labour was the only parliamentary party to gain support but a large portion came at the expense of the Green Party, which lost almost half its seats (dropping from 14 to 8) following co-leader Metiria Turei's resignation over self-admitted prior welfare benefit and electoral fraud. The anti-immigration populist party New Zealand First won 9 seats, down from 12 in 2014. ACT retained its one seat. Election-night counts had National with 58 seats, Labour with 45 seats, and the Greens with 7 seats, but when special votes were counted, National lost one list seat each to the Greens and Labour.
The election saw five parties return to Parliament, down from seven in 2014 and the lowest number since the introduction of MMP in 1996. Māori Party co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell lost his seat of Waiariki and, with the party's vote count being below the threshold of 5%, they also lost their list MP, co-leader Marama Fox, and departed Parliament. United Future leader and sole MP Peter Dunne retired from politics during the campaign due to poor polling in his electorate of Ōhāriu and his successor failed to win the seat. The party voted to dissolve less than two months later.
Even with support partner ACT retaining its sole seat, the existing National minority government were short of the 61 seats needed to govern, and Bill English declared that the arrangement would not be continued. New Zealand First's nine seats gave it the balance of power between the National Party and the Labour–Green bloc. On 19 October 2017, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters announced that the party was intending to form a minority coalition government with the Labour Party of 55 seats, with confidence and supply agreement from the Green Party. This is the first Government in New Zealand under MMP where the most popular party is not part of the Government. The election resulted in Ardern becoming New Zealand's third female prime minister, and Peters being reappointed deputy prime minister, a role he had first held in 1996–98. This marked an end to nine years under the Fifth National Government, and the beginning of the Sixth Labour Government of New Zealand.
Electoral system
New Zealand uses the mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting system to elect the 120-member House of Representatives. Each voter gets two votes, one for a political party (the party vote) and one for a local candidate (the electorate vote). Political parties which meet the threshold (5% of the party vote or one electorate seat) receive seats in the House in proportion to the percentage of the party vote they receive. In the 2014 and 2017 elections, 71 of the 120 seats were filled by the MPs elected from the electorates, with the winner in each electorate determined by the plurality ("first-past-the-post") method; the remaining 49 seats were filled by candidates from each party's closed party list. If a party wins more electorates than seats it is entitled to under the party vote, an overhang results; in this case, the House will add extra seats to cover the overhang. The 2014 election saw a one-seat overhang where Peter Dunne won the Ōhāriu electorate when his United Future Party was entitled to zero seats under the party vote.
The majority of members in the House will form a Government. Since it is difficult for any single party to win a majority of seats under MMP, parties must generally negotiate with other parties either to form a majority coalition government or to obtain sufficient confidence and supply to operate as a minority government.
Electorate boundaries in the 2017 election were the same as at the 2014 election, with 64 general electorates (48 in the North Island and 16 in the South Island), and 7 Māori electorates.
Electoral law changes The Electoral Amendment Act 2017 and the Broadcasting (Election Programmes and Election Advertising) Amendment Act 2017 made a number of changes to the conduct of general elections, including: Voters no longer have to complete and sign a new enrolment form if they are already enrolled and notify of a change of address, for example, through New Zealand Post's mail redirection service. The Electoral Commission no longer is required to send out nominations and polling place information to every voter by post; instead the Commission may use its discretion on how to advertise nominations and polling places. Polling booths may now use electronic electoral rolls to mark off voters. Counting of advance votes may now start earlier at 9:00 am (previously 2:00 pm), to take into account the increase in people voting in advance. The contact information of sitting MPs, such as business cards and signage on out-of-Parliament offices, has been clarified as not constituting election advertising. Election advertising is now legally prohibited in or near advance polling booths. Election hoardings may now be erected nine weeks before the election (previously two months), so the first day always falls on a Saturday. Parties are no longer allocated free airtime on Radio New Zealand and Television New Zealand to broadcast opening and closing addresses.
Eligibility to vote To vote in the general election, one must: be on the electoral roll be aged 18 or over on election day (i.e. born on or before 23 September 1999) be a New Zealand citizen, permanent resident, residence visa holder, an Australian citizen or other person entitled to reside in New Zealand indefinitely. have lived in New Zealand for one year or more continuously at some point have been in New Zealand within the last 3 years (for New Zealand citizens) or 1 year (non-New Zealand citizens); public servants and Defence Force personnel on duty outside New Zealand, including their partners and children, are not subject to this rule. not be expressly disqualified from enrolling or voting (e.g., serving a sentence of imprisonment; convicted of a corrupt election practice).
Election schedule Unless an early election is called or the election date is set to circumvent holding a by-election, a general election is held every three years. The previous election was held on Saturday, 20 September 2014.
The Governor-General must issue writs for an election within seven days of the expiration or dissolution of the current Parliament. Under section 17 of the Constitution Act 1986, Parliament expires three years "from the day fixed for the return of the writs issued for the last preceding general election of members of the House of Representatives, and no longer." The writs for the 2014 election were returned on 10 October 2014, a day late due to a judicial recount of the Te Tai Tokerau electorate. As a result, the 51st Parliament would have expired, if not dissolved earlier, on Tuesday, 10 October 2017. Consequently, the last day for issuance of writs of election would have been 17 October 2017. The writs must be returned within 50 days of their issuance (save for any judicial recount or death of a candidate), which would have been Wednesday, 6 December 2017. Because polling day must be a Saturday and two weeks is generally required for the counting of special votes, the last possible date for the 2017 general election would have been Saturday, 18 November 2017.
On 1 February 2017, Prime Minister Bill English announced that the election would be held on Saturday 23 September 2017. This was the first election since 1975 that both major parties, Labour and National, contested under new leadership.
Key dates relating to the general election were as follows. 1 February 2017 (Wednesday) Prime Minister Bill English announces election to be held on 23 September. 23 June 2017 (Friday) The regulated election advertising period begins. 22 July 2017 (Saturday) Election hoardings may be erected (subject to local council rules). 17 August 2017 (Wednesday) Last sitting day for the 51st Parliament. 22 August 2017 (Tuesday) The 51st Parliament is dissolved with a short ceremony on the steps of Parliament House. 23 August 2017 (Wednesday) Writ day – Governor-General issues formal direction to the Electoral Commission to hold the election.Last day to ordinarily enrol to vote (late enrolments must cast special votes). Official campaigning begins; radio and television advertising begins. 28 August 2017 (Monday) Deadline (12:00) for registered parties to lodge bulk nominations of candidates and party lists. 29 August 2017 (Tuesday) Deadline (12:00) for individual candidates to lodge nominations. 30 August 2017 (Wednesday) Details of candidates for election and polling places released. 6 September 2017 (Wednesday) Overseas voting begins. 11 September 2017 (Monday) Advance voting begins. 22 September 2017 (Friday) Advance voting ends; overseas voting ends at 16:00 local time. Last day to enrol to vote.The regulated election advertising period ends; all election advertising must be taken down by midnight. 23 September 2017 (Saturday) Election day – polling places open 09:00 to 19:00. Preliminary results released progressively after 19:00. 7 October 2017 (Saturday) Official results declared. 12 October 2017 (Thursday) Writ for election returned; official declaration of elected members (subject to judicial recounts).
Parties and candidates
Political parties registered with the Electoral Commission can contest the general election as a party. To register, parties must have at least 500 financial members, an auditor, and an appropriate party name.Section 63, Electoral Act 1993 A registered party may submit a party list to contest the party vote, and can have a party campaign expenses limit in addition to limits on individual candidates' campaigns. Unregistered parties and independents can contest the electorate vote only.
The following registered parties contested the general election: