Could cannabis scrape through? Final election, referendum results to be revealed today

November 6, 2020

Special votes have been counted on the nation's 2020 election and referendums.

The special votes have been counted, with New Zealand's final 2020 election results expected later today.

It could mean a shuffling of MPs in tight electorates, as well as official numbers in the Cannabis Legalisation and Control Bill and End of Life Choice Bill.

Preliminary results indicate the recreational cannabis referendum failed, with a result of 53.1 per cent against and 46.1 per cent in support. 

Meanwhile, the preliminary referendum results showed 65.2 per cent - or 1,574,645 Kiwis - were in favour of the End of Life Choice Act coming into force.

As for electorate seats, ones to keep an eye on are Waiariki, Whangārei and the Auckland Central seat.

Voting behaviours expert Lara Greaves, of the University of Auckland, breaks down what to expect in the final results coming out later today.

Voting behaviours expert Lara Greaves, of the University of Auckland, told TVNZ1's Breakfast this morning Whangārei was the one she would keep an eye on, as well as Maungakiekie.

"They're both seats held by National Party MPs and, again, with those specials leaning left they're the ones where we're likely to see some movement," she said.

In Whangārei, National's Shane Reti is ahead with 15,637 votes. Labour's Emily Henderson is on 15,475.

In Maungakiekie, National's Denise Lee is leading with 13,013 votes. Labour's Priyanca Radhakrishnan is on 12,433.

Then in Auckland Central, Greens MP Chlöe Swarbrick became the first in her party in 21 years to win a seat.

She won 9060 votes, while Labour's Helen White wasn't too far behind on 8568 and National's Emma Mellow was third with 7566 votes.

But Greaves told Breakfast there were about 480,000 votes yet to be counted, including from Kiwis overseas, people outside their electorate when voting, or those in hospital, prison or managed isolation when they cast their vote.

"We've seen in the past National lose two seats - one to Labour, one to the Greens. National got less votes this time so they've got less to lose, but we could still potentially expect someone to come in from the Labour list and potentially more MPs to lose their spot yet again in the National Party," Greaves said.

At the moment, Labour won 49.1 per cent of New Zealand's votes in the 2020 election - meaning 64 seats in Parliament. In the preliminary results National was behind on 26.8 per cent and 35 seats.

Greens got 7.6 per cent and 10 seats, but have joined the Labour Government through a co-operation agreement signed at the weekend.

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