electionstracker

New Zealand 1975 general election

What was the result of the 1975 general election in New Zealand?

New Zealand National Party won 55 of 87 seats with 47.4% of the vote. 82.5% 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 55 of 87 seats with 47.4% of the vote; 82.5% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 7.3 points on 1972.

  • New Zealand National Party 55 +23 seats 47.4% +5.9 points
  • New Zealand Labour Party 32 −23 seats 39.7% −8.7 points
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 0 0 seats 7.4% +0.8 points
  • Values Party 0 0 seats 5.2% +3.2 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 1972 general election, party by party.

44 of 87 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 47.4%

    Share of the vote won by New Zealand National Party

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

  2. +23 seats

    Seats gained by New Zealand National Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1972. New Zealand Labour Party lost 23 seats.

  3. 82.5%

    Voter turnout

    Down 7.3 points on 1972.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
New Zealand National Party55+2347.4+5.9760,365
New Zealand Labour Party32−2339.7−8.7636,319
Social Credit / Democratic Party007.4+0.8119,123
Values Party005.2+3.283,213

± is the change against the New Zealand 1972 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • New Zealand National Party 760,365
  • New Zealand Labour Party 636,319
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 119,123
  • Values Party 83,213

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?

82.5% of the 1,953,050 registered voters cast a ballot (1,611,020 ballots), down 7.3 points on 1972. 1,602,777 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 Party47.4% of votes63.2% of seats
  • New Zealand Labour Party39.7% of votes36.8% of seats
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party7.4% of votes0.0% of seats
  • Values Party5.2% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 13.0 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.6 by votes and 1.9 by seats; New Zealand National Party led New Zealand Labour Party by 7.7 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of