New Zealand general election, 2005

New Zealand general election, 2005

2002 ← 17 September 2005 (2005-09-17) → 2008

outgoing members ← → members

All 120 seats (plus 1 overhang seat) in the New Zealand House of Representatives 61 seats were needed for a majority Turnout 2,304,005 (80.92%) 3.94%   First party Second party Third party   Leader Helen Clark Don Brash Winston Peters Party Labour National NZ First Leader since 1993 2003 1993 Leader's seat Mount Albert (List) Tauranga (lost re-election) Last election 52 seats, 41.26% 27 seats, 20.93% 13 seats, 10.38% Seats before 51 27 13 Seats won 50 48 7 Seat change 1 21 6 Popular vote 935,319 889,813 130,115 Percentage 41.10% 39.10% 5.72% Swing 0.16% 18.17% 4.66%   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Rod Donald / Jeanette Fitzsimons Tariana Turia / Pita Sharples Peter Dunne Party Green Māori United Future Leader since 1995 / 1995 2004 / 2004 2000 Leader's seat (List) / (List) Te Tai Hauāuru / Tāmaki Makaurau Ohariu-Belmont Last election 9 seats, 7.00% – 8 seats, 6.69% Seats before 9 1 8 Seats won 6 4 3 Seat change 3 3 5 Popular vote 120,521 48,263 60,860 Percentage 5.30% 2.12% 2.67% Swing 1.70 2.12% 4.02%   Seventh party Eighth party   Leader Rodney Hide Jim Anderton Party ACT Progressive Leader since 2004 2002 (party foundation) Leader's seat Epsom Wigram Last election 9 seats, 7.14% 2 seats, 1.70% Seats before 9 2 Seats won 2 1 Seat change 7 1 Popular vote 34,469 26,441 Percentage 1.51% 1.16% Swing 5.63% 0.54%

Prime Minister before election Helen Clark Labour Subsequent Prime Minister Helen Clark Labour

Helen Clark
Labour

Helen Clark
Labour

The 2005 New Zealand general election on Saturday 17 September 2005 determined the membership of the 48th New Zealand Parliament. One hundred and twenty-one MPs were elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives: 69 from single-member electorates, including one overhang seat, and 52 from party lists (one extra due to the overhang).

No party won a majority, but the Labour Party of Prime Minister Helen Clark secured two more seats than nearest rival, the National Party of Dr Don Brash. With the exception of the newly formed Māori Party, which took four Māori seats from Labour, most of the other parties polled lower than in the previous election, losing votes and seats.

Brash deferred conceding defeat until 1 October, when National's election-night 49 seats fell to 48 after special votes were counted. The official count increased the Māori Party share of the party vote above 2%, entitling them to three rather than two list seats from the party vote. With four electorate seats, the election night overhang of two seats was reduced to one, and as National had the 120th seat allocated under the party vote, National lost one list seat (that of Katrina Shanks) that they appeared to have won on election night.

The election was a strong recovery for National which won 21 more seats than at the 2002 election, where it suffered its worst result in its history, and the highest party vote percentage for the party since 1990. Despite its resurgence, National failed to displace Labour as the largest party in Parliament. National's gains apparently came mainly at the expense of smaller parties, while Labour won only two seats less than in 2002.

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