electionstracker

New Zealand 1978 general election

What was the result of the 1978 general election in New Zealand?

New Zealand National Party won 51 of 92 seats with 39.8% of the vote. 80.9% 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 51 of 92 seats with 39.8% of the vote; 80.9% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 1.5 points on 1975.

  • New Zealand Labour Party 40 +8 seats 40.4% +0.7 points
  • New Zealand National Party 51 −4 seats 39.8% −7.6 points
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 1 +1 seat 16.1% +8.6 points
  • Values Party 0 0 seats 2.4% −2.8 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 1975 general election, party by party.

47 of 92 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 39.8%

    Share of the vote won by New Zealand National Party

    New Zealand National Party won 51 of 92 seats. A majority needs 47.

  2. +8 seats

    Seats gained by New Zealand Labour Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1975. New Zealand National Party lost 4 seats.

  3. 80.9%

    Voter turnout

    Down 1.5 points on 1975.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
New Zealand Labour Party40+840.4+0.7691,076
New Zealand National Party51−439.8−7.6680,991
Social Credit / Democratic Party1+116.1+8.6274,756
Values Party002.4−2.841,220

± is the change against the New Zealand 1975 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • New Zealand Labour Party 691,076
  • New Zealand National Party 680,991
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 274,756
  • Values Party 41,220

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?

80.9% of the 2,126,724 registered voters cast a ballot (1,721,443 ballots), down 1.5 points on 1975. 1,710,173 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 Party39.8% of votes55.4% of seats
  • New Zealand Labour Party40.4% of votes43.5% of seats
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party16.1% of votes1.1% of seats
  • Values Party2.4% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 15.5 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.9 by votes and 2.0 by seats; New Zealand Labour Party led New Zealand National Party by 0.6 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of