electionstracker

New Zealand 1957 general election

What was the result of the 1957 general election in New Zealand?

New Zealand Labour Party won 41 of 80 seats with 48.3% of the vote. 93.4% 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 Labour Party won 41 of 80 seats with 48.3% of the vote; 93.4% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 2.0 points on 1954.

  • New Zealand Labour Party 41 +6 seats 48.3% +4.2 points
  • New Zealand National Party 39 −6 seats 44.2% −0.1 points
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 0 0 seats 7.2% −3.9 points
  • 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 1954 general election, party by party.

41 of 80 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 48.3%

    Share of the vote won by New Zealand Labour Party

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

  2. +6 seats

    Seats gained by New Zealand Labour Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1954. New Zealand National Party lost 6 seats.

  3. 93.4%

    Voter turnout

    Up 2.0 points on 1954.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
New Zealand Labour Party41+648.3+4.2559,096
New Zealand National Party39−644.2−0.1511,699
Social Credit / Democratic Party007.2−3.983,498

± is the change against the New Zealand 1954 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • New Zealand Labour Party 559,096
  • New Zealand National Party 511,699
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 83,498

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?

93.4% of the 1,244,748 registered voters cast a ballot (1,163,061 ballots), up 2.0 points on 1954. 1,157,365 of them were valid votes. The highest turnout since 1949 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • New Zealand Labour Party48.3% of votes51.3% of seats
  • New Zealand National Party44.2% of votes48.8% of seats
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party7.2% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 6.4 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.3 by votes and 2.0 by seats; New Zealand Labour Party led New Zealand National Party by 4.1 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of