electionstracker

New Zealand 1990 general election

What was the result of the 1990 general election in New Zealand?

New Zealand National Party won 67 of 97 seats with 47.8% of the vote. 85.2% 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 67 of 97 seats with 47.8% of the vote; 85.2% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 3.8 points on 1987.

  • New Zealand National Party 67 +28 seats 47.8% +3.8 points
  • New Zealand Labour Party 29 −29 seats 35.1% −12.8 points
  • Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 0 6.8%
  • NewLabour Party 1 5.2%
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 0 0 seats 1.7% −4.1 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 1987 general election, party by party.

49 of 97 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 47.8%

    Share of the vote won by New Zealand National Party

    New Zealand National Party won 67 of 97 seats. A majority needs 49.

  2. +28 seats

    Seats gained by New Zealand National Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1987. New Zealand Labour Party lost 29 seats.

  3. 85.2%

    Voter turnout

    Down 3.8 points on 1987.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
New Zealand National Party67+2847.8+3.8872,358
New Zealand Labour Party29−2935.1−12.8640,915
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand06.8124,915
NewLabour Party15.294,171
Social Credit / Democratic Party001.7−4.130,455

± is the change against the New Zealand 1987 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • New Zealand National Party 872,358
  • New Zealand Labour Party 640,915
  • Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 124,915
  • NewLabour Party 94,171
  • Social Credit / Democratic Party 30,455

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?

85.2% of the 2,202,157 registered voters cast a ballot (1,877,115 ballots), down 3.8 points on 1987. 1,824,092 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout since 1978 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • New Zealand National Party47.8% of votes69.1% of seats
  • New Zealand Labour Party35.1% of votes29.9% of seats
  • NewLabour Party5.2% of votes1.0% of seats
  • Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand6.8% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 16.5 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.8 by votes and 1.8 by seats; New Zealand National Party led New Zealand Labour Party by 12.7 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of