electionstracker

New Zealand 1960 general election

What was the result of the 1960 general election in New Zealand?

New Zealand National Party won 46 of 80 seats with 47.6% of the vote. 89.8% 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 46 of 80 seats with 47.6% of the vote; 89.8% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 3.6 points on 1957.

  • New Zealand National Party 46 +7 seats 47.6% +3.4 points
  • New Zealand Labour Party 34 −7 seats 43.4% −4.9 points
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 0 0 seats 8.6% +1.4 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 1957 general election, party by party.

41 of 80 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 47.6%

    Share of the vote won by New Zealand National Party

    New Zealand National Party won 46 of 80 seats. A majority needs 41.

  2. +7 seats

    Seats gained by New Zealand National Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1957. New Zealand Labour Party lost 7 seats.

  3. 89.8%

    Voter turnout

    Down 3.6 points on 1957.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
New Zealand National Party46+747.6+3.4557,046
New Zealand Labour Party34−743.4−4.9508,179
Social Credit / Democratic Party008.6+1.4100,905

± is the change against the New Zealand 1957 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • New Zealand National Party 557,046
  • New Zealand Labour Party 508,179
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 100,905

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?

89.8% of the 1,310,742 registered voters cast a ballot (1,176,963 ballots), down 3.6 points on 1957. 1,170,503 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout since 1951 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • New Zealand National Party47.6% of votes57.5% of seats
  • New Zealand Labour Party43.4% of votes42.5% of seats
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party8.6% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 9.3 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.4 by votes and 2.0 by seats; New Zealand National Party led New Zealand Labour Party by 4.2 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of