electionstracker

New Zealand 1999 general election

What was the result of the 1999 general election in New Zealand?

New Zealand Labour Party won 49 of 120 seats with 38.7% of the vote. 84.8% 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 49 of 120 seats with 38.7% of the vote; 84.8% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 3.5 points on 1996.

  • New Zealand Labour Party 49 +12 seats 38.7% +10.6 points
  • New Zealand National Party 39 −5 seats 30.5% −3.3 points
  • Alliance 10 −3 seats 7.7% −2.4 points
  • ACT New Zealand 9 +1 seat 7.0% +0.9 points
  • Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 7 5.2%
  • New Zealand First 5 −12 seats 4.3% −9.1 points
  • Christian Heritage Party of New Zealand 0 0 seats 2.4% −1.9 points
  • Christian Democrat Party 0 1.1%
  • United New Zealand 1 0 seats 0.5% −0.3 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 1996 general election, party by party.

61 of 120 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 38.7%

    Share of the vote won by New Zealand Labour Party

    New Zealand Labour Party won 49 of 120 seats. A majority needs 61.

  2. +12 seats

    Seats gained by New Zealand Labour Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1996. New Zealand First lost 12 seats.

  3. 84.8%

    Voter turnout

    Down 3.5 points on 1996.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
New Zealand Labour Party49+1238.7+10.6800,199
New Zealand National Party39−530.5−3.3629,932
Alliance10−37.7−2.4159,859
ACT New Zealand9+17.0+0.9145,493
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand75.2106,560
New Zealand First5−124.3−9.187,926
Christian Heritage Party of New Zealand002.4−1.949,154
Christian Democrat Party01.123,033
Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party001.1−0.622,687
United New Zealand100.5−0.311,065

± is the change against the New Zealand 1996 general election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • New Zealand Labour Party 800,199
  • New Zealand National Party 629,932
  • Alliance 159,859
  • ACT New Zealand 145,493
  • Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand 106,560
  • New Zealand First 87,926
  • Christian Heritage Party of New Zealand 49,154
  • Christian Democrat Party 23,033
  • Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party 22,687
  • United New Zealand 11,065

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?

84.8% of the 2,509,365 registered voters cast a ballot (2,127,265 ballots), down 3.5 points on 1996. 2,065,494 of them were valid votes. The lowest turnout since 1978 in our data.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • New Zealand Labour Party38.7% of votes40.8% of seats
  • New Zealand National Party30.5% of votes32.5% of seats
  • Alliance7.7% of votes8.3% of seats
  • ACT New Zealand7.0% of votes7.5% of seats
  • Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand5.2% of votes5.8% of seats
  • New Zealand First4.3% of votes4.2% of seats
  • United New Zealand0.5% of votes0.8% of seats
  • Christian Heritage Party of New Zealand2.4% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 3.0 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 3.9 by votes and 3.4 by seats; New Zealand Labour Party led New Zealand National Party by 8.2 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of