| Parliament name |
House of Representatives |
| Structure of parliament |
Unicameral |
| BACKGROUND |
| Dates of election / renewal (from/to) |
20 September 2014 |
| Purpose of elections |
Prime Minister John Key's National Party retained power, taking 60 seats in the 121-member House of Representatives (see note). The Labour Party, led by Mr. David Cunliffe, followed with 32 seats, which was its worst result since 1992. The Green Party and New Zealand First took 14 and 11 seats respectively. Following the elections, Prime Minister Key announced that the National Party would form a minority government and renew its Confidence and Supply agreements to facilitate the passage of legislation with the Maori Party, United Future and ACT New Zealand, which took a total of four seats.
During the election campaign, the National Party ran on the governmental record, referring to the creation of 83,000 new jobs and the extension of paid parental leave from 13 to 18 weeks. It promised to create 150,000 more jobs in the next four years. The Labour Party promised to implement economic development policies that would transform New Zealand into a "sustainable, resilient, low-carbon economy", while conserving and enhancing its environmental assets. The Green Party, co-led by Ms. Metiria Turei and Mr. Russel Norman, presented "a billion dollar plan to reduce child poverty" that would create a new tax rate of 40 percent for top earners. New Zealand First, led by Mr. Winston Peters, promised to implement policies to "upskill" New Zealanders and improve both wages and productivity.
Note:
Under the Mixed Member Proportional system (MMP), seats are first allocated to candidates winning electoral seats. Another 50 seats are then allocated in keeping with parties' 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". One overhang seat was allotted to the United Future in 2014, bringing the total number of members to 121, instead of the statutory 120. |
Date of previous elections: 26 Novmber 2011
Date of dissolution of the outgoing legislature: 14 August 2014
Timing of election: Early elections
Expected date of next elections: Before 18 November 2017
Number of seats at stake: 121* (full renewal)
*Including one overhang seat.
Number of candidates: 554 (390 men, 164 women)
Percentage of women candidates: 29.6%
Number of parties contesting the election: 15
Number of parties winning seats: 7
Alternation of power: No
Number of parties in government: 1
Names of parties in government: National Party
Date of the first session of the new parliament: 20 October 2014
Name of the new Speaker: Mr. David Carter (National Party) |
| STATISTICS |
| Voter turnout |
| Round no 1 | 20 September 2014 |
Number of registered electors
Voters
Blank or invalid ballot papers
Valid votes |
3'140'417
2'446'279 (77.9%)
|
|
Notes
|
|
| Distribution of seats |
|
Round no 1
|
| Political Group |
Total
|
Electorate seats |
List seats |
|
|
| National Party |
60
|
41 |
19 |
|
|
| Labour Party |
32
|
27 |
5 |
|
|
| Green Party |
14
|
0 |
14 |
|
|
| New Zealand First |
11
|
0 |
11 |
|
|
| Maori Party |
2
|
1 |
1 |
|
|
| ACT New Zealand |
1
|
1 |
0 |
|
|
| United Future |
1
|
1 |
0 |
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to sex |
Men
Women
Percent of women |
85
36
29.75%
|
| Distribution of seats according to age |
|
|
|
| Distribution of seats according to profession |
|
|
| Comments |
Sources:
House of Representatives (01.01.2015, 01.01.2017)
http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2014/partystatus.html
http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2014/successfulcand.html
http://www.elections.org.nz
http://www.parliament.nz/en-nz/mpp/mps/current |
|
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