electionstracker

New Zealand 1984 general election

What was the result of the 1984 general election in New Zealand?

New Zealand Labour Party won 56 of 95 seats with 43.0% of the vote. 93.7% 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 56 of 95 seats with 43.0% of the vote; 93.7% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 2.3 points on 1981.

  • New Zealand Labour Party 56 +13 seats 43.0% +4.0 points
  • New Zealand National Party 37 −10 seats 35.9% −2.9 points
  • New Zealand Party 0 12.3%
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 2 0 seats 7.6% −13.0 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 1981 general election, party by party.

48 of 95 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 43.0%

    Share of the vote won by New Zealand Labour Party

    New Zealand Labour Party won 56 of 95 seats. A majority needs 48.

  2. +13 seats

    Seats gained by New Zealand Labour Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1981. New Zealand National Party lost 10 seats.

  3. 93.7%

    Voter turnout

    Up 2.3 points on 1981.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
New Zealand Labour Party56+1343.0+4.0829,154
New Zealand National Party37−1035.9−2.9692,494
New Zealand Party012.3236,385
Social Credit / Democratic Party207.6−13.0147,162

± is the change against the New Zealand 1981 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • New Zealand Labour Party 829,154
  • New Zealand National Party 692,494
  • New Zealand Party 236,385
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 147,162

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?

93.7% of the 2,111,651 registered voters cast a ballot (1,978,798 ballots), up 2.3 points on 1981. 1,929,201 of them were valid votes. The highest turnout since 1949 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • New Zealand Labour Party43.0% of votes58.9% of seats
  • New Zealand National Party35.9% of votes38.9% of seats
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party7.6% of votes2.1% of seats
  • New Zealand Party12.3% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 14.9 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.0 by votes and 2.0 by seats; New Zealand Labour Party led New Zealand National Party by 7.1 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of