New Zealand general election, 1999

New Zealand general election, 1999

1996 ← 27 November 1999 (1999-11-27) → 2002

outgoing members ← → members

All 120 seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives 61 seats needed for a majority Turnout 2,127,295 (84.77%) 3.51%   First party Second party Third party   Leader Helen Clark Jenny Shipley Jim Anderton Party Labour National Alliance Leader since 1993 1997 1995 Leader's seat Mount Albert Rakaia Wigram Last election 37 seats, 28.19% 44 seats, 33.87% 13 seats, 10.10% Seats won 49 39 10 Seat change 12 5 3 Popular vote 800,199 629,932 159,859 Percentage 38.74% 30.50% 7.74% Swing 10.55% 3.37% 2.36%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Richard Prebble Rod Donald / Jeanette Fitzsimons Winston Peters Party ACT Green NZ First Leader since 1996 1995 / 1995 1993 Leader's seat List List / Coromandel Tauranga Last election 8 seats, 6.10% Ran as part of Alliance 17 seats, 13.35% Seats won 9 7 5 Seat change 1 7 12 Popular vote 145,493 106,560 87,926 Percentage 7.04% 5.16% 4.26% Swing 0.94% 5.16% 9.09%

Prime Minister before election Jenny Shipley National Subsequent Prime Minister Helen Clark Labour

Jenny Shipley
National

Helen Clark
Labour

The 1999 New Zealand general election was held on 27 November 1999 to determine the composition of the 46th New Zealand Parliament. The governing National Party, led by Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, was defeated, being replaced by a coalition of Helen Clark's Labour Party and the smaller Alliance. This marked an end to nine years of National Party government, and the beginning of the Fifth Labour Government of New Zealand which would govern for 9 years, until its loss to the National Party in the 2008 general election.

Before the election, the National Party had an unstable hold on power. After the 1996 election National had formed a coalition with the populist New Zealand First party and its controversial leader, Winston Peters. The coalition was unpopular, as New Zealand First was seen as opposed to the National government, and had made many statements in the 1996 election campaign to that effect, such as saying that only through New Zealand First could National Party be toppled, and Peters said that he would not accept Jim Bolger as Prime Minister, Bill Birch as Finance Minister or Jenny Shipley in a social welfare portfolio. NZ First's support crashed, though this was also partly caused by scandals and by mid-1997, NZ First was polling at as low as 2%. National also polled badly, and Jim Bolger was replaced as Prime Minister with Jenny Shipley.

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