| Parliament name |
House of Representatives |
| Structure of parliament |
Unicameral |
| BACKGROUND |
| Dates of election / renewal (from/to) |
8 November 2008 |
| Purpose of elections |
Elections were held for all the seats in the House of Representatives on the normal expiry of the members' term of office. |
On 12 September
Prime Minister Helen Clark announced that the House of Representatives would be dissolved on 3 October and that elections would be held on 8 November.
In the previous elections held in September 2005
Prime Minister Clark's Labour Party remained the biggest party by securing 50 seats in the 120 member parliament
making her the first Labour leader to win three consecutive terms since World War II. The opposition National Party substantially increased its seats to 48 from 27 in the previous elections. The following month
Ms. Clark announced a minority coalition with Jim Anderton's Progressive Party (one seat). She also secured the agreement of New Zealand First (seven seats) and the United Future (three seats) to extend confidence and support to her government. The Green Party (six seats) signed a cooperation agreement with the Labour led government promising not to oppose the government in confidence votes. The newly formed Maori Party (four seats) announced it would not support the new government.
The 2008 elections once again saw a duel between the Labour Party and the National Party. Prior to the elections
scandals involving the Foreign Minister and the economic slowdown reportedly gave the opposition National Party the lead in opinion polls.
On 29 August
Foreign Minister and the leader of New Zealand First
Mr. Winston Peters
agreed to step aside while investigations were being conducted into alleged malpractice involving donations made to his party. Prime Minister Clark took over his portfolio. The National Party leader
Mr. John Key
accused the Prime Minister of taking too long to deal with the crisis.
In late September
the national statistics office announced that the country's economy had fallen into recession for the first time since 1998. The global financial crisis reportedly worsened the situation in the run-up to the elections.
In the meantime
on 11 September
the Reserve Bank (central bank) announced an interest rate cut
allowing major banks to lower mortgage rates. On 1 October
the personal tax cuts for all workers announced in May 2008 took effect. The government said that the measures would help pull the economy out of recession.
Prime Minister Clark argued that only the Labour Party could make tough choices for the country. She promised to use at least 3.4 per cent of biofuels in all transport fuels by 2012. She further promised a deposit guarantee scheme to protect investments
expanded training opportunities for youth
and a universal student allowance by abolishing parental income testing.
National Party leader John Key argued that the country needed change. He pledged to protect businesses from financial losses. His party's policies included income tax cuts and more spending on key infrastructure projects such as roads
schools and a broadband network. It promised to promptly execute dam projects on the West Coast
opposed by the Labour government. He also promised to reduce the adverse effects on the economy of the September 2008 Climate Change (Emissions Trading and Renewable Preference) Bill that established the framework for the Emissions Trading Scheme for New Zealand. Emissions trading is a one of the primary tools of international cooperation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol.
Both the Labour and National parties pledged to maintain New Zealand's troops in Afghanistan but not to deploy them in Iraq. Moreover
they both endorsed the ban on nuclear weapons and nuclear-powered or nuclear-armed ships in New Zealand.
The Green Party
led jointly by Ms. Jeanette Fitzsimons and Mr. Russel Norman
promised to reduce the country's dependence on oil and its CO2 emissions. It argued that a strong Green presence in Parliament would bring about change in government.
Mr. Peter Dunne's United Future Party and the Maori Party
led jointly by Mr. Pita Sharples and Ms. Tariana Turia
aligned themselves with the National Party. The ACT New Zealand
led by Mr. Rodney Hide
indicated that it would support the National Party.
In all
79.46 per cent of the 2.9 million registered voters turned out at the polls.
The final results gave 58 seats to the National Party and 43 to the Labour Party. The Greens won nine seats
followed by the ACT and the Maori Party
which took five seats each. The Progressive Party and the United Future won one seat each. New Zealand First failed to win any parliamentary representation. In all
41 women were elected to a new 122 member parliament (including two overhang seats
see note)
up from 39 women out of 121 members elected in 2005.
On 19 November
Mr. Key was sworn in as Prime Minister by the Governor General Anand Satyanand together with 27 ministers.
The newly elected Parliament held its first session on 8 December and elected Mr. Alexander Lockwood Smith of the National Party as its new Speaker.
Note:
Under the New Zealand electoral system
seats are first allocated to candidates winning electoral seats. Parties will then get a share of seats in Parliament in keeping with their share of "party votes". In cases where parties win more electoral seats than their share of seats determined by the party vote
they may keep the extra seats
the so called "overhang seats". In the 2008 elections
the Maori Party won two overhang seats.
|
| STATISTICS |
| Voter turnout |
| Round no 1 | 8 November 2008 |
Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes |
2'990'759
2'376'480 (79.46%)
31'914
2'344'566 |
|
Notes
|
|
| Distribution of votes |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Candidates |
Votes |
|
|
% |
|
|
| National Party |
|
1'053'398 |
|
|
44.93 |
|
|
| Labour Party |
|
796'880 |
|
|
33.99 |
|
|
| Green Party |
|
157'613 |
|
|
6.72 |
|
|
| ACT New Zealand |
|
85'496 |
|
|
3.65 |
|
|
| Maori Party |
|
55'980 |
|
|
2.39 |
|
|
| Jim Anderton's Progressive Party |
|
21'241 |
|
|
0.91 |
|
|
| United Future |
|
20'497 |
|
|
0.87 |
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Total
|
Majority |
PR |
|
|
| National Party |
58
|
41 |
17 |
|
|
| Labour Party |
43
|
21 |
22 |
|
|
| Green Party |
9
|
0 |
9 |
|
|
| ACT New Zealand |
5
|
1 |
4 |
|
|
| Maori Party |
5
|
5 |
0 |
|
|
| Jim Anderton's Progressive Party |
1
|
1 |
0 |
|
|
| United Future |
1
|
1 |
0 |
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to sex |
Men
Women
Percent of women |
81
41
33.61%
|
| Distribution of seats according to age |
21 to 30 years
31 to 40 years
41 to 50 years
51 to 60 years
61 to 70 years
Over 70 years
Unknown
|
2
21
30
45
19
2
3
|
| Distribution of seats according to profession |
| Civil service and local authority administration |
23 |
| Finance
management or business |
19 |
| Legal profession |
18 |
| Education profession |
17 |
| Agriculture/farming |
10 |
| Trade union official |
6 |
| International civil servant |
5 |
| Journalism
broadcasting
media |
4 |
| Physician
dentist |
4 |
| Research/sciences |
3 |
| Architect
surveyor
engineer |
3 |
| Other |
2 |
| Social worker |
2 |
| Nursing |
2 |
| Clerical
secretarial
administration |
1 |
| Civil society activity |
1 |
| Entrepreneur |
1 |
| Economist |
1 |
|
| Comments |
Sources:
Chief Electoral Office
Ministry of Justice (30.11.2008)
House of Representatives (19.02.2009)
http://2008.electionresults.govt.nz/partystatus.html |
Compare data for parliamentary chambers in the Last elections module
