electionstracker

New Zealand 1981 general election

What was the result of the 1981 general election in New Zealand?

New Zealand National Party won 47 of 92 seats with 38.8% of the vote. 91.4% 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 47 of 92 seats with 38.8% of the vote; 91.4% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 10.5 points on 1978.

  • New Zealand Labour Party 43 +3 seats 39.0% −1.4 points
  • New Zealand National Party 47 −4 seats 38.8% −1.0 points
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 2 +1 seat 20.6% +4.6 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 1978 general election, party by party.

47 of 92 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 38.8%

    Share of the vote won by New Zealand National Party

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

  2. +3 seats

    Seats gained by New Zealand Labour Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1978. New Zealand National Party lost 4 seats.

  3. 91.4%

    Voter turnout

    Up 10.5 points on 1978.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
New Zealand Labour Party43+339.0−1.4702,630
New Zealand National Party47−438.8−1.0698,508
Social Credit / Democratic Party2+120.6+4.6372,056
Largest party without seats00.58,332

± is the change against the New Zealand 1978 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • New Zealand Labour Party 702,630
  • New Zealand National Party 698,508
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 372,056
  • Largest party without seats 8,332

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?

91.4% of the 2,034,747 registered voters cast a ballot (1,860,564 ballots), up 10.5 points on 1978. 1,801,303 of them were valid votes. The highest turnout since 1957 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • New Zealand National Party38.8% of votes51.1% of seats
  • New Zealand Labour Party39.0% of votes46.7% of seats
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party20.6% of votes2.2% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 16.6 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.9 by votes and 2.1 by seats; New Zealand Labour Party led New Zealand National Party by 0.2 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of