electionstracker

New Zealand 1963 general election

What was the result of the 1963 general election in New Zealand?

New Zealand National Party won 45 of 80 seats with 47.1% of the vote. 89.6% 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 47.1% of the vote; 89.6% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 0.2 points on 1960.

  • New Zealand National Party 45 −1 seat 47.1% −0.5 points
  • New Zealand Labour Party 35 +1 seat 43.7% +0.3 points
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 0 0 seats 7.9% −0.7 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 1960 general election, party by party.

41 of 80 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 47.1%

    Share of the vote won by New Zealand National Party

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

  2. +1 seats

    Seats gained by New Zealand Labour Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1960. New Zealand National Party lost 1 seat.

  3. 89.6%

    Voter turnout

    Down 0.2 points on 1960.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
New Zealand National Party45−147.1−0.5563,875
New Zealand Labour Party35+143.7+0.3524,066
Social Credit / Democratic Party007.9−0.795,176

± is the change against the New Zealand 1960 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • New Zealand National Party 563,875
  • New Zealand Labour Party 524,066
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 95,176

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?

89.6% of the 1,345,836 registered voters cast a ballot (1,205,322 ballots), down 0.2 points on 1960. 1,198,045 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout since 1951 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • New Zealand National Party47.1% of votes56.3% of seats
  • New Zealand Labour Party43.7% of votes43.8% of seats
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party7.9% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 8.6 (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 3.3 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of