electionstracker

New Zealand 1987 general election

What was the result of the 1987 general election in New Zealand?

New Zealand Labour Party won 58 of 97 seats with 48.0% of the vote. 89.1% 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 58 of 97 seats with 48.0% of the vote; 89.1% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 4.6 points on 1984.

  • New Zealand Labour Party 58 +2 seats 48.0% +5.0 points
  • New Zealand National Party 39 +2 seats 44.0% +8.1 points
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 0 −2 seats 5.7% −1.9 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 1984 general election, party by party.

49 of 97 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 48.0%

    Share of the vote won by New Zealand Labour Party

    New Zealand Labour Party won 58 of 97 seats. A majority needs 49.

  2. +2 seats

    Seats gained by New Zealand Labour Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1984. Social Credit / Democratic Party lost 2 seats.

  3. 89.1%

    Voter turnout

    Down 4.6 points on 1984.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
New Zealand Labour Party58+248.0+5.0878,448
New Zealand National Party39+244.0+8.1806,305
Social Credit / Democratic Party0−25.7−1.9105,091

± is the change against the New Zealand 1984 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • New Zealand Labour Party 878,448
  • New Zealand National Party 806,305
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 105,091

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?

89.1% of the 2,114,656 registered voters cast a ballot (1,883,394 ballots), down 4.6 points on 1984. 1,831,777 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout since 1978 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • New Zealand Labour Party48.0% of votes59.8% of seats
  • New Zealand National Party44.0% of votes40.2% of seats
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party5.7% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 9.7 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.3 by votes and 1.9 by seats; New Zealand Labour Party led New Zealand National Party by 3.9 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of