electionstracker

New Zealand 1966 general election

What was the result of the 1966 general election in New Zealand?

New Zealand National Party won 44 of 80 seats with 43.6% of the vote. 86.0% 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 44 of 80 seats with 43.6% of the vote; 86.0% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 3.6 points on 1963.

  • New Zealand National Party 44 −1 seat 43.6% −3.4 points
  • New Zealand Labour Party 35 0 seats 41.4% −2.3 points
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 1 +1 seat 14.5% +6.5 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 1963 general election, party by party.

41 of 80 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 43.6%

    Share of the vote won by New Zealand National Party

    New Zealand National Party won 44 of 80 seats. A majority needs 41.

  2. +1 seats

    Seats gained by Social Credit / Democratic Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1963. New Zealand National Party lost 1 seat.

  3. 86.0%

    Voter turnout

    Down 3.6 points on 1963.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
New Zealand National Party44−143.6−3.4525,945
New Zealand Labour Party35041.4−2.3499,392
Social Credit / Democratic Party1+114.5+6.5174,515
Largest party without seats00.11,419

± is the change against the New Zealand 1963 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • New Zealand National Party 525,945
  • New Zealand Labour Party 499,392
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 174,515
  • Largest party without seats 1,419

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?

86.0% of the 1,409,600 registered voters cast a ballot (1,212,127 ballots), down 3.6 points on 1963. 1,205,095 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout of this kind in our data, which begins in 1946.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • New Zealand National Party43.6% of votes55.0% of seats
  • New Zealand Labour Party41.4% of votes43.8% of seats
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party14.5% of votes1.3% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 12.4 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.6 by votes and 2.0 by seats; New Zealand National Party led New Zealand Labour Party by 2.2 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of