Chief Electoral Office Ministry of Justice

Saturday 22 November 2008

New Zealand general Election 2008 - Official Results

The Chief Electoral Officer has declared the official results for the 2008 General Election.

In summary:

- The number of seats in Parliament will be 122.

- The National Party has lost one list seat compared to election night, and now has 58 seats in total.
-
The Green Party has gained one list seat compared to election night, and now has nine seats in total.

-· There are no changes to the number of seats held on election night by other parties.

-· All electorate candidates leading on election night have been confirmed as winning their seats.

-· The turnout as a percentage of enrolled electors is 79.46 percent (2005 - 80.92 percent).

Details of the official results are available from www.electionresults.govt.nz ( http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/ )(from 2.00pm).

Background

The official results for the 2008 General Election held on 8 November 2008 have been determined in accordance with the electoral legislation. The results are subject to any applications for judicial recounts.

All votes cast on election night have been recounted and balanced and special votes have been checked for eligibility before being counted. This has been done in the presence of Justices of the Peace and any scrutineers appointed by candidates.

Comprehensive audit checks have also been completed at the national level to ensure the results are accurate. The scrutiny of the rolls has also been completed as required by law and the master roll for each electorate has been prepared.

Overall Results - 2008 General Election

Total Votes Counted: 2,356,536*

Party Party Votes % Votes Electorate Seats List Seats Total Seats

National Party 1,053,398 44.93 41 17 58

Labour Party 796,880 33.99 21 22 43

Green Party 157,613 6.72 0 9 9

ACT New Zealand 85,496 3.65 1 4 5

Māori Party 55,980 2.39 5 0 5

Jim Anderton's Progressive 21,241 0.91 1 0 1

United Future 20,497 0.87 1 0 1

New ZealandFirst Party 95,356 4.07 0 0 0

The Bill and Ben Party 13,016 0.56 0 0 0

Kiwi Party 12,755 0.54 0 0 0

Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party 9,515 0.41 0 0 0

New ZealandPacific Party 8,640 0.37 0 0 0

Family Party 8,176 0.35 0 0 0

Alliance 1,909 0.08 0 0 0

Democrats for Social Credit 1,208 0.05 0 0 0

Libertarianz 1,176 0.05 0 0 0

Workers Party 932 0.04 0 0 0

RAM - Residents Action Movement 465 0.02 0 0 0

The Republic of New Zealand Party 313 0.01 0 0 0

70 52 122

*includes informal votes. The results are calculated using the St Lague formula.

Composition of Parliament

The size of Parliament will be 122 seats, an increase of two seats over the normal 120 seats. The additional seats are because the Maoori Party won more electorate seats (five seats) than its entitlement under the party vote (three seats).

There are two changes compared to election night.

The National Party has a total of 58 seats, one less than on election night.

The Green Party has a total of nine seats, one more than on election night.

There are no changes to the number of seats held by other parties on election night.

All electorate candidates leading on election night have been confirmed as winning their electorate seats.

Successful Candidates (electorate and list)

The names of the 122 successful candidates (electorate and list) are shown in alphabetical order under their parties in Attachment A.

The winning electorate candidates and their majorities are shown in Attachment B.

Detailed Results for each Electorate

Detailed results for each electorate are available from www.electionresults.govt.nz.

Turnout and Special Votes

The number of voters as a percentage of enrolled voters was 79.46 percent. Turnout for each electorate is shown in Attachment B.

Special votes totalled 270,965 or 11.4 percent of total votes cast.

Declaration and Judicial Recounts

The official results will be declared formally by Gazette Notice today. Any applications for a judicial recount must be filed with the District Court no later than Wednesday 26 November 2008.

Next Steps

If there are no applications for recounts, the Chief Electoral Officer will return the writ to the Clerk of the House of Representatives and then allocate list seats in the presence of party scrutineers and declare by Gazette Notice the election of list members of Parliament.

If there is a judicial recount the return of the writ and the election of list members will be delayed until any recounts are complete.

Further Statistics

Further statistics including official results for each polling place and analysis of special votes are expected to be available, subject to recounts, in the week commencing 1 December at www.electionresults.govt.nz ( http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/ ). Split voting statistics should be available on the website in the week commencing 8 December.

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