Final election results: Negotiations now 'on a knife-edge' as final result gives Labour and Greens another seat each

October 7, 2017

Both Labour and the Greens picked up an extra seat while National dropped two seats.

 The latest overall election results have proved to be a "big twist", 1 NEWS political editor Corin Dann says. 

"It sets up a far more even set of negotiations next week whilst National still have the biggest majority potentially with NZFirst."

"Both NZ First and Labour will now feel far more comfortable with trying to form an government with the Greens, as their majority will be of three seats instead, instead of one.”

"It's a significant boost for the centre-left."

He said the next five days of negotiations will be "on a knife-edge". 

The 1 NEWS political editor says that's because Labour, Greens and NZ First only had 61 seats on election night but now have two more.

"It's a much, much tighter scenario."

The two week wait for the election result is finally over with the left bloc gaining two seats in the final count of votes - stripping them from National.

The wait was to allow the Electoral Commission to count 446, 287 special votes, or 17 per cent of votes cast. That includes just over 61,000 from overseas.

The Greens leader says the boost in Greens and Labour seats increases the case for a change in government.

Labour gained one seat , now giving them 46 seats. The Greens also gained one, now giving them eight seats.

That brings Labour's Angie Warren-Clark and Greens' Golriz Ghahraman into Parliament.

And that increased vote share puts Jacinda Ardern in contention to form a Government with NZ First. Winston Peters’ Party still holds nine seats.

A Labour-Greens-NZF grouping would hold 63 seats. A National- NZF bloc would have 65.

election

National loses two seats - taking out list -elect MPs Nicola Willis and Maureen Pugh. Their final tally is 56 seats.

The turnout at 79.8 per cent was the highest since 2005 (80.9 per cent). And 47 per cent of votes were cast early - up from 30 per cent at the last election.

Of the minor parties, only ACT holds an electorate seat (Epsom). There is no overhang, with 120 MPs now in Parliament.

This election had the highest number ever of special votes, with over 384,000 cast, 15 per cent of the overall 2.5 million. 

The votes are made up of voters who enrolled the day they voted, those on the unpublished roll and votes cast outside electorates. 

There was also 61,375 special overseas votes and dictation votes to be counted. 

The Green Party will be doing a live stand up at 2.15pm today, and Labour will be at 3pm today. 

Final Result:
National: 56 seats 
Labour: 46 seats 
NZ First: Nine seats
Green Party: Eight seats 
ACT New Zealand: One seat 

Overall count: 2,630,173 votes

National: 44.4% - 56 seats (1,152,075 party votes)
Labour: 36.9% - 46 seats (956,184 party votes)
NZ First: 7.2% - Nine seats (186,706 party votes)
Green Party: 6.3% - Eight seats (162,443 party votes)
ACT New Zealand: 0.5% - One seat (13,075 party votes)

*This count includes 10,793 party informal votes and 27,484 disallowed votes.  

Preliminary count (not including special votes):

National: 46% - 58 seats (998,813 party votes)
Labour: 35.8% - 45 seats (776,556 party votes)
NZ First: 7.5% - Nine seats (162,988 party votes)
Green Party: 5.9% - Seven seats (126,995 party votes)
ACT New Zealand: 0.5% - One seat (10,959 party votes)

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