electionstracker

New Zealand 1954 general election

What was the result of the 1954 general election in New Zealand?

New Zealand National Party won 45 of 80 seats with 44.3% of the vote. 91.4% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • New Zealand
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • ParlGov, read 5 October 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Final results from ParlGov, read : New Zealand National Party won 45 of 80 seats with 44.3% of the vote; 91.4% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 2.3 points on 1951.

  • New Zealand National Party 45 −5 seats 44.3% −9.7 points
  • New Zealand Labour Party 35 +5 seats 44.1% −1.7 points
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 0 11.1%
  • Seats won
  • Change on the previous election at the right
  • Share of the vote
  • Share at the previous election
  • Change in points at the right

Changes are against the New Zealand 1951 general election, party by party.

41 of 80 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 44.3%

    Share of the vote won by New Zealand National Party

    New Zealand National Party won 45 of 80 seats. A majority needs 41.

  2. +5 seats

    Seats gained by New Zealand Labour Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1951. New Zealand National Party lost 5 seats.

  3. 91.4%

    Voter turnout

    Up 2.3 points on 1951.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
New Zealand National Party45−544.3−9.7485,630
New Zealand Labour Party35+544.1−1.7484,082
Social Credit / Democratic Party011.1122,068

± is the change against the New Zealand 1951 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • New Zealand National Party 485,630
  • New Zealand Labour Party 484,082
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 122,068

ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.

How many people voted?

91.4% of the 1,209,670 registered voters cast a ballot (1,105,609 ballots), up 2.3 points on 1951. 1,096,893 of them were valid votes.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • New Zealand National Party44.3% of votes56.3% of seats
  • New Zealand Labour Party44.1% of votes43.8% of seats
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party11.1% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 11.6 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.5 by votes and 2.0 by seats; New Zealand National Party led New Zealand Labour Party by 0.1 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of