The 2020 New Zealand euthanasia referendum was a binding referendum held in New Zealand on 17 October 2020, on the question of whether to legalise euthanasia via the End of Life Choice Act 2019. The vote was held in conjunction with the 2020 general election, and official results were released on 6 November 2020. It was accepted by New Zealand voters, with 65.1% in support and 33.7% opposed.

The act came into force on 7 November 2021, twelve months after the final vote count was announced. The End of Life Choice Act legalises voluntary euthanasia for those with a terminal illness and less than six months left to live, if confirmed to be eligible by two doctors. New Zealand is the first country to have put euthanasia legalisation to a referendum.

Votes for the End of Life Choice referendum were included on the same ballot as the 2020 cannabis referendum, which sought to legalise recreational cannabis.

Background

Prior to 2021, euthanasia was illegal in New Zealand, with it being illegal to "aid and abet suicide" under section 179 of the Crimes Act 1961.

Two earlier attempts to legalise euthanasia failed to get through the New Zealand Parliament. Hawkes Bay National MP Michael Laws's 1995 Death with Dignity Bill failed with 61 votes against and 29 supporting, and NZ First MP Peter Brown's 2003 Death with Dignity Bill failed in its first reading by 60 votes opposing to 58 supporting.

End of Life Choice Bill

ACT party MP David Seymour entered the End of Life Choice Bill to the member's bill ballot in October 2015. The bill passed its first reading 76–44 in December 2017 and its second reading 70–50 in June 2019. In the committee of the whole House, support from the New Zealand First party became conditional on a referendum to decide whether the law should come into force. An amendment to require a referendum passed 69–51, and the bill passed its third reading with the same numbers on 13 November. The bill received royal assent on 16 November 2019, becoming the End of Life Choice Act 2019.

Referendum structure

Following the third reading, the act was written such that it could only come into force following a majority support at a referendum, which would make the legislation active twelve months after the final vote count. If the majority had opposed the legislation in the referendum (or any subsequent referendum, if the first had been voided), it would have been repealed by 16 November 2024, five years after it received royal assent.

The wording of the referendum was also written into the act, and asked voters: Do you support the End of Life Choice Act 2019 coming into force? Yes, I support the End of Life Choice Act 2019 coming into force. No, I do not support the End of Life Choice Act 2019 coming into force.

Public opinion Support for assisted dying between 2000 and 2019 averaged at around 68%, and prior to the act passing into law in 2019, support for some kind of medically assisted euthanasia for the terminally ill was polled at 74% in April, and 72% in July of 2019.

During the 16-month-long select committee stage of the End of Life Choice Bill, 39,000 public submissions were made, with 90% of submitters opposed to it. Over one thousand doctors signed an open letter in mid-2019 saying that they "want no part in assisted suicide".

Through 2020, following the act's assent, public support for it polled at 60–65%:

Date Polling organisation Sample size For Against Undecided Lead10–14 Oct 2020 1 News Colmar Brunton 1,005 60 33 7 2717–21 Sep 2020 1 News Colmar Brunton 1,008 64 25 11 3920–23 Aug 2020 Research New Zealand 1,003 62 24 14 389–13 Jul 2020 Research New Zealand 1,012 64 18 18 466-8 Mar 2020 Research New Zealand 1,000 60 21 19 398–12 Feb 2020 1 News Colmar Brunton 1,004 65 25 9 4027 Nov – 2 Dec 2019 Research New Zealand 750 70 24 6 4817–26 Nov 2019 Horizon Research 1,521 70 30 – 4020–24 Jul 2019 1 News Colmar Brunton 1,003 72 20 7 5219–29 Apr 2019 Horizon Research 1,341 74 19 7 55

Campaign rules The rules regarding campaigning for referendums are the same as for general elections. All advertisements must carry a promoter statement, stating the name and physical address of the promoter. It is illegal to campaign on polling day, or within a radius of an advance polling booth.

During the regulated period, which ran from 18 August to 16 October 2020, promoters have to declare their campaign expenses and there are limits on how much they may spend on referendum campaigning. The maximum expense limit was $338,000 per referendum for those promoters registered with the Electoral Commission, and $13,600 per referendum for unregistered promoters.

Results

Unlike the general election, a preliminary count for the euthanasia referendum was not conducted on election night (17 October 2020). Instead, the referendum votes were counted alongside the mandatory election recount.

All voting papers, counterfoils and electoral rolls are returned to the electorate's returning officer for counting. During the count, the returning officer approves and counts any special votes, and compiles a master electoral roll to ensure no-one has voted more than once. To simplify processing and counting, overseas votes are sent and counted at the Electoral Commission's central processing centre in Wellington, rather than to electorate returning officers.

Preliminary results for the referendums were released by the Electoral Commission on 30 October 2020. These results had 65.2% of people in support of the legislation.

Following the counting of the 480,000 special votes, official results for the general election and referendums were released on 6 November. Based on the final results, 65.1% of people supported the legislation while 33.7% opposed it. Three South Auckland electorates — , and — voted against the End of Life Choices Act, perhaps due to conservative evangelical Pasifika Christianity's strength in those areas. By contrast, over three quarters of and voters supported introduction of the End of Life Choices Act in this referendum. Although these are metropolitan electorates, there were several other electorates that polled over seventy percent support for the proposed legislation that were not necessarily urban.

The new legislation took effect on 7 November 2021.

+Official results of the New Zealand euthanasia referendum, 17 October 2020OptionVotesNum.% Yes1,893,29065.91 No979,07934.09Total2,872,369100.00Informal votes35,7021.23Total votes cast2,908,071100.00Registered voters and turnout 3,549,564 82.24

By polling place location As each polling place had only one ballot box for ordinary referendum votes, ordinary votes were broken down by the general electorate where the polling place was located. Special votes were broken down by electorate. Both ordinary and special votes have been combined in the following table. Electorate Yes No Informal Turnout Num. % Num % 28,88976.888,69023.12417 31,66068.9314,26831.07458 31,74369.1114,18630.89401 22,41757.2516,74042.75575 30,89967.8714,62932.13603 32,79968.8414,84331.16518 33,74570.6414,02329.36432 34,56068.7715,69431.23505 34,64565.8417,97234.16710 29,89068.0317,97231.97416 31,13870.1213,26729.88485 28,86262.1017,61637.90591 29,12763.2216,94236.78627 33,50366.6316,77833.37672 27,56264.8814,92135.12453 26,53663.7715,07636.23404 29,96170.1712,73829.83353 34,95170.0014,97930.00504 19,07858.7213,41141.28583 25,33163.8714,97936.13559 11,77438.3713,41161.63745 18,67746.8421,20153.161,025 24,00562.6814,29537.32561 30,69771.4612,26028.54561 21,32655.6616,99044.34779 32,53070.9513,32129.05519 34,24069.8514,77730.15545 26,34964.6014,43835.40672 31,52666.5715,83533.43461 29,63769.9312,74530.07362 28,00268.0813,12831.92468 34,54267.2516,81932.75636 27,43767.7013,09332.30434 35,02268.0116,47731.99573 25,09162.8314,84237.17483 25,75662.5815,40137.42459 14,86847.5416,40652.46956 27,05065.1214,48634.88563 28,88667.7113,76332.29446 29,77565.5715,63234.43475 29,31265.8015,23634.20396 26,60864.2914,78135.71511 29,50569.9212,69630.08761 29,37664.9415,86235.06582 27,73869.7212,04630.28284 27,66468.8312,52631.17327 28,68866.1214,70233.88410 17,25156.7313,15843.27624 28,66067.5213,78732.48474 27,06167.5512,99832.45370 33,84268.1115,84231.89453 33,64765.5917,65234.41506 25,38058.6817,87241.32695 30,03767.1814,67532.82505 23,26763.9413,12136.06454 24,34664.7713,24135.23419 30,91768.1514,45031.85388 33,29069.3814,69330.62467 28,86268.0313,56631.97401 46,18776.1414,47423.86666 28,94171.3611,61528.64446 28,74964.0416,12835.94483 29,53968.2413,74731.76304 34,82367.8516,50032.15642 28,25963.9015,96536.10623 3,91558.712,75341.29255 3,39060.682,19739.32224 3,98458.192,86241.81240 3,73459.932,49740.07173 3,94259.152,72240.85204 4,15767.631,99032.37185 3,75357.632,75942.37241 Total1,893,29065.91979,07934.0935,702

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