electionstracker

New Zealand 1972 general election

What was the result of the 1972 general election in New Zealand?

New Zealand Labour Party won 55 of 87 seats with 48.4% 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 Labour Party won 55 of 87 seats with 48.4% of the vote; 89.8% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 0.1 points on 1969.

  • New Zealand Labour Party 55 +16 seats 48.4% +4.2 points
  • New Zealand National Party 32 −13 seats 41.5% −3.7 points
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 0 0 seats 6.7% −2.4 points
  • Values Party 0 2.0%
  • 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 1969 general election, party by party.

44 of 87 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 48.4%

    Share of the vote won by New Zealand Labour Party

    New Zealand Labour Party won 55 of 87 seats. A majority needs 44.

  2. +16 seats

    Seats gained by New Zealand Labour Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1969. New Zealand National Party lost 13 seats.

  3. 89.8%

    Voter turnout

    Down 0.1 points on 1969.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
New Zealand Labour Party55+1648.4+4.2677,669
New Zealand National Party32−1341.5−3.7581,422
Social Credit / Democratic Party006.7−2.493,231
Values Party02.027,467

± is the change against the New Zealand 1969 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • New Zealand Labour Party 677,669
  • New Zealand National Party 581,422
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 93,231
  • Values Party 27,467

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 1,569,937 registered voters cast a ballot (1,410,240 ballots), down 0.1 points on 1969. 1,401,152 of them were valid votes.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • New Zealand Labour Party48.4% of votes63.2% of seats
  • New Zealand National Party41.5% of votes36.8% of seats
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party6.7% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 12.1 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.4 by votes and 1.9 by seats; New Zealand Labour Party led New Zealand National Party by 6.9 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of