# 2011 New Zealand general election

The 2011 New Zealand general election took place on Saturday 26 November 2011 to determine the membership of the 50th New Zealand Parliament.
One hundred and twenty-one MPs were elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives, 70 from single-member electorates, and 51 from party lists including one overhang seat. New Zealand since 1996 has used the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) voting system, giving voters two votes: one for a political party and the other for their local electorate MP. A referendum on the voting system was held at the same time as the election, with voters voting by majority to keep the MMP system.
A total of 3,070,847 people were registered to vote in the election, with over 2.2 million votes cast and a turnout of 74.21% – the lowest turnout since 1887. The incumbent National Party, led by John Key, gained the plurality with 47.3% of the party vote and 59 seats, two seats short of holding a majority. The opposing Labour Party, led by Phil Goff, lost ground winning 27.5% of the vote and 34 seats, while the Green Party won 11.1% of the vote and 14 seats – the biggest share of the party vote for a minor party since 1996. New Zealand First, having won no seats in 2008 due to its failure to either reach the 5% threshold or win an electorate, made a comeback with 6.6% of the vote entitling them to eight seats.
National's confidence and supply partners in the 49th Parliament meanwhile suffered losses. ACT New Zealand won less than a third of the party vote it received in 2008, reducing from five seats to one. The Māori Party was reduced from five seats to three, as the party vote split between the Māori Party and former Māori Party MP Hone Harawira's Mana Party. United Future lost party votes, but retained their one seat in Parliament.
Following the election, National reentered into confidence and supply agreements with ACT and United Future on 5 December 2011, and with the Māori Party on 11 December 2011, to form a minority government with a seven-seat majority (64 seats to 57) and give the Fifth National Government a second term in office.

## Background
### Election date and other key dates

The election date was set as Saturday 26 November 2011, as predicted by the media. Breaking with tradition, Prime Minister John Key announced the election date in February. Traditionally, the election date is a closely guarded secret, announced as late as possible. The date follows the tradition of holding the general election on the last Saturday of November unless the schedule is interrupted by a snap election or to circumvent holding a by-election.
The Governor-General must issue writs for an election within seven days of the expiration or dissolution of Parliament. Under section 17 of the Constitution Act 1986, Parliament expires three years "from the day fixed for the return of the writs issued for the last preceding general election of members of the House of Representatives, and no longer." The writs for the previous general election were returnable on 27 November 2008. As a result, the 49th Parliament would have expired, if not dissolved earlier, on 27 November 2011. As that day was a Sunday, the last available working day was 25 November 2011. Consequently, the last day for issuance of writs of election was 2 December 2011. Except in some circumstances (such a recount or the death/incapacitation of an electorate candidate), the writs must be returned within 50 days of their issuance with the last possible working day being 20 January 2012. Because polling day must be a Saturday, the last possible polling date for the election was 7 January 2012, allowing time for the counting of special votes. The Christmas/New Year holiday period made the last realistic date for the election Saturday 10 December 2011. The Rugby World Cup 2011 was hosted by New Zealand between 9 September and 23 October 2011, and ruled out all the possible election dates in this period. This left two possible windows for the general election: on or before 2 September and 29 October to 10 December.
Key dates of the election were:
| 2 February 2011 | Prime Minister John Key announces election to be held on 26 November |
| 6 October 2011 | Last sitting day for the 49th Parliament |
| 20 October 2011 | Governor-General Jerry Mateparae dissolves the 49th Parliament |
| 26 October 2011 | Writ Day – Governor-General issues formal direction to the Electoral Commission to hold the election. Electoral roll closes for printing (all people enrolling after this date must cast special declaration votes). |
| 2 November 2011 | Details of candidates for election and polling places released. |
| 9 November 2011 | Advance and overseas voting begins. |
| 25 November 2011 | Advance voting ends. Overseas voting ends 4:00pm local time. |
| 26 November 2011 | Election Day – polling places open 9:00am to 7:00pm. Preliminary results released progressively after 7:00pm. |
| 10 December 2011 | Official results released |
| 15 December 2011 | Writ for election returned; official declaration of elected members |
However, as the recount of the Waitakere was not completed in time for the writ to be returned on 15 December, the return of the writ was delayed to 17 December 2011.

### 49th Parliament, 2008–2011

Following the 2008 general election, National Party leader and Prime Minister John Key announced a confidence and supply agreement with ACT, the Māori Party and United Future to form the Fifth National Government. These arrangements gave the National-led government a majority of 16 seats, with 69 on confidence-and-supply in the 122-seat Parliament.
Labour, Greens and the Progressives are all in opposition, although only the Labour and Progressive parties formally constitute the formal Opposition; the Greens have a minor agreement with the government but are not committed to confidence and supply support.
At the 2008 election, the National Party had 58 seats, the Labour Party 43 seats, Green Party 9 seats, ACT and Māori Party five each, and Progressive and United Future one each. During the Parliament session, two members defected from their parties – Chris Carter was expelled from Labour in August 2010, and Hone Harawira left the Māori Party in February 2011. Carter continued as an independent, while Harawira resigned from parliament to recontest his Te Tai Tokerau electorate in a by-election under his newly formed Mana Party. Two MPs resigned from Parliament before the end of the session, John Carter of National and Chris Carter, but as they resigned within 6 months of an election, their seats remained vacant.
At the dissolution of the 49th parliament on 20 October 2011, National held 57 seats, Labour 42 seats, Green 9 seats, ACT 5 seats, Māori 4 seats, and Progressive, United Future and Mana one each.

### Marginal seats in 2008

At the 2008 election, the following seats were won by a majority of less than 1000 votes:
| Electorate | Member of Parliament | Incumbent party | Majority | Second place | Second party |
| New Plymouth | Jonathan Young | National | 105 | Harry Duynhoven | Labour |
| Waimakariri | Clayton Cosgrove | Labour | 390 | Kate Wilkinson | National |
| Waitakere | Paula Bennett | National | 632 | Lynne Pillay | Labour |
| Rimutaka | Chris Hipkins | Labour | 753 | Richard Whiteside | National |
| Hauraki-Waikato | Nanaia Mahuta | Labour | 888 | Angeline Greensill | Māori Party |
| Christchurch Central | Brendon Burns | Labour | 935 | Nicky Wagner | National |
| West Coast-Tasman | Chris Auchinvole | National | 971 | Damien O'Connor | Labour |

### MPs retiring in 2011

Nineteen MPs, including all five ACT MPs and the sole Progressive MP, intended to retire at the end of the 49th Parliament. One of the ACT MPs, John Boscawen, contested Tāmaki, but did not expect to win and was not on the party list. National MP Allan Peachey died three weeks before the election.
| Party | Name | Electorate |
| ACT | Roger Douglas | (List) |
| ACT | Rodney Hide | Epsom |
| ACT | Heather Roy | (List) |
| ACT | Hilary Calvert | (List) |
| ACT | John Boscawen | (List) |
| Green | Sue Kedgley | (List) |
| Green | Keith Locke | (List) |
| Progressive | Jim Anderton | Wigram |
| Labour | Ashraf Choudhary | (List) |
| Labour | George Hawkins | Manurewa |
| Labour | Pete Hodgson | Dunedin North |
| Labour | Lynne Pillay | (List) |
| Labour | Mita Ririnui | (List) |
| National | John Carter | Northland |
| National | Sandra Goudie | Coromandel |
| National | Wayne Mapp | North Shore |
| National | Simon Power | Rangitīkei |
| National | Allan Peachey | Tāmaki |
| National | Georgina te Heuheu | (List) |

### Electorate boundaries

Electorates in the election were the same as at the 2008 election.
Electorates and their boundaries in New Zealand are reviewed every five years after the New Zealand census. The last review took place in 2007, following the 2006 census. The next review is not due until 2014, following the 2013 census (the 2011 census was cancelled due to the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake).

### Election procedures

On 17 September 2010, Justice Minister Simon Power announced the government was introducing legislation making this the first election where voters would be able to re-enrol completely on-line. Enrolments on-line beforehand still required the election form to be printed, signed, and sent by post.
Voters in the Christchurch region were encouraged to cast their votes before election day if they had doubt about being able to get to a polling booth on election day or to avoid long queues, as many traditional polling booths are unavailable due to the earthquakes. Nineteen advance voting stations were made available, with three of them campervans, which are usually only used in rural areas of New Zealand. The Christchurch Central electorate, for example, has 33 polling stations in 2011 compared to 45 in 2008.

## Contesting parties and candidates

At the close of nominations, 544 individuals had been nominated to contest the election, down from 682 at the 2008 election. Of those, 91 were list-only, 73 were electorate-only (43 from registered parties, 17 independents, and 13 from non-registered parties), and 380 contested both list and electorate.
Political parties registered with the Electoral Commission on Writ Day can contest the general election as a party, allowing it to submit a party list to contend the party vote, and have a party election expenses limit in addition to individual candidate limits. At Writ Day, sixteen political parties were registered to contend the general election. At the close of nominations, thirteen registered parties had put forward a party list to the commission to contest the party vote, down from nineteen in 2008.
| Party | Party | Leader(s) | Party vote % (2008 election) | Seats (October 2011) | Electorate candidates | Party list candidates |
| Parties with seats in the 49th Parliament |||||||
| | ACT | Rodney Hide | 3.65 | 5 | 50 | 55 |
| | Green | Russel Norman / Metiria Turei | 6.72 | 9 | 59 | 61 |
| | Labour | Phil Goff | 33.99 | 42 | 70 | 65 |
| | Mana | Hone Harawira | – | 1 | 21 | 20 |
| | Māori Party | Pita Sharples / Tariana Turia | 2.39 | 4 | 11 | 17 |
| | National | John Key | 44.93 | 57 | 63 | 65 |
| | United Future New Zealand | Peter Dunne | 0.87 | 1 | 19 | 15 |
| Other parties |||||||
| | Alliance | Andrew McKenzie / Kay Murray | 0.08 | – | 5 | 14 |
| | Conservative | Colin Craig | – | – | 52 | 30 |
| | Democrats | Stephnie de Ruyter | 0.05 | – | 14 | 24 |
| | Legalise Cannabis | Michael Appleby | 0.41 | – | 18 | 28 |
| | Libertarianz | Richard McGrath | 0.05 | – | 9 | 27 |
| | NZ First | Winston Peters | 4.07 | – | 31 | 33 |
| ^[a] Party was founded after the 2008 election ||||||
The Kiwi Party, the New Citizen Party and the Progressive Party were registered, but did not contend the election under their own banners. The Kiwi Party and the New Citizen Party stood candidates for the Conservative Party.
In addition to the registered parties and their candidates, thirteen candidates from nine non-registered parties contested electorates. The Human Rights Party contested Auckland Central, the Communist League Manukau East and Mount Roskill, the Nga Iwi Morehu Movement contested Hauraki-Waikato and Te Tai Hauauru, the Pirate Party contested Hamilton East and Wellington Central, the Sovereignty Party contested Clutha-Southland and Te Tai Hauauru, Economic Euthenics contested Wigram, New Economics contested Wellington Central, Restore All Things In Christ contested Dunedin South, and the Youth Party contested West Coast-Tasman.
Seventeen independent candidates also contested the electorates in thirteen electorates: Christchurch Central, Coromandel, Epsom (two), Hamilton West (two), New Plymouth, Ōtaki, Rangitikei (two), Rongotai, Tāmaki (two), Tauranga, Waitaki, Wellington Central, and Ikaroa-Rawhiti

## Campaigning
### Epsom and the Tea Tape scandal

On 11 November, National Party leader John Key met with John Banks, the ACT candidate for Epsom, over a cup of tea at a cafe in Newmarket to send a signal to Epsom voters about voting tactically. The National Party passively campaigned for Epsom voters to give their electorate vote to ACT while giving their party vote to National. This would allow ACT to bypass the 5% party vote threshold and enter Parliament by winning an electorate seat, thereby providing a coalition partner for National. However, in October and November 2011, polls of the Epsom electorate vote taken by various companies showed that the National candidate for Epsom, Paul Goldsmith, was leading in the polls and likely to win the seat. During the meeting, the two politicians' discussion was recorded by a device left on the table in a black pouch. The recording tapes were leaked to The Herald on Sunday newspaper, and subsequently created a media frenzy over the content of the unreleased tapes.

### Debates

TVNZ held three party leaders' debates: two between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, and one between the leaders of the smaller parties. TV3 hosted a single debate between the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition.
| Date | Host | Leaders | Presenter / Moderator |
| 30 October | TVNZ | Don Brash, Metiria Turei, Hone Harawira, Pita Sharples, Peter Dunne | Paul Holmes |
| Highlights – The debate included a variety of topics, ranging from the age of superannuation eligibility to youth unemployment to asset sales. Peter Dunne won the debate, with Metiria Turei coming second. ||||
| 31 October | TVNZ | John Key, Phil Goff | Mark Sainsbury / Guyon Espiner |
| Highlights – The economy, asset sales, the cost of living, education, welfare, environment and mining, crisis management and recovery, leadership and New Zealand's involvement in Afghanistan. A text poll conducted alongside gave the debate to John Key with 61%. ||||
| 16 November | TVNZ | Don Brash, Russel Norman, Hone Harawira, Tariana Turia, Winston Peters, Peter Dunne | Mark Sainsbury / Guyon Espiner |
| Highlights – The debate included the economy, the age of superannuation eligibility, Māori affairs, the environment, the Emissions Trading Scheme, the Tea Tape scandal, the voting system referendum, and potential partners after the election. A text poll conducted alongside gave the debate to Winston Peters with 36%, with Hone Harawira coming second with 27%. ||||
| 21 November | TV3 | John Key, Phil Goff | John Campbell |
| Highlights – A studio audience of undecided voters gave positive or negative reactions to the leaders, which showed up on a reactor worm. Aside from claims that the studio audience was biased, Phil Goff won the debate. ||||
| 23 November | TVNZ | John Key, Phil Goff | Mark Sainsbury / Guyon Espiner |
| Highlights – to be completed ||||

### Pre-election coalition preferences

The National Party ruled out working with New Zealand First's Winston Peters after the election. ACT confirmed it would work with National after the elections.
The Labour Party leader Phil Goff ruled out a coalition agreement with Hone Harawira's new Mana Party, but left open the possibility of reaching an agreement with New Zealand First.
In the 16 November minor parties debate, leaders from the minor parties stated their preferences:
* The Green's preference was it would work in a coalition government with Labour, but wouldn't completely rule out working with National.
* Mana would not work in a coalition government with National and/or ACT
* Māori would not work in a coalition government with ACT.
* No preference was stated for New Zealand First, but later said it would not work with National or Labour.
* United Future ruled out working with Labour

### Media bias

A Massey University study released in November 2012 suggested newspaper coverage was favourable towards National and John Key. In the month leading up to the election, the big four newspapers in New Zealand – The New Zealand Herald, The Herald on Sunday, The Dominion Post and The Sunday Star-Times – printed 72 percent more photos of Key than his opponent, Phil Goff, and devoted twice as many column inches of text coverage.

## Opinion polling

The nature of the Mixed Member Proportional voting system, whereby the share of seats in Parliament a party gets is determined by its share of the nationwide party vote, means aside from normal polling bias and error, opinion polling in New Zealand is fairly accurate in predicting the outcome of an election compared with other countries.
Opinion polls were undertaken periodically since the 2008 election by MediaWorks New Zealand (3 News Reid Research), The New Zealand Herald (Herald Digipoll), Roy Morgan Research, and Television New Zealand (One News Colmar Brunton), with polls having also being conducted by Fairfax Media (Fairfax Media Research International) since July 2011. The graph on the right shows the collated results of all five polls for parties that have polled above the 5% electoral threshold.
After the 2008 election, National gained in popularity, and since 2009 has regularly polled in the 50–55% range, peaking at 55% in August 2009 and October 2011, before falling to 51% in the week before the election. Labour and Green meanwhile kept steady after the election at 31–34% and 7–8% respectively until July 2011, when Labour started to lose support, falling to just 26% before the election. The majority of Labour's loss was the Green's gain, rising to 13% in the same period. No other party peaked on average above 5% in the period.

## Results
### Parliamentary parties

Party vote percentage
Summary of the 26 November 2011 election for the House of Representatives :
| Party | Party | Party vote | Party vote | Party vote | Electorate vote | Electorate vote | Electorate vote | Seats | Seats | Seats | Seats |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | Change (pp) | Votes | % | Change (pp) | List | Electorate | Total | +/- |
| | National | 1,058,636 | 47.31 | 2.38 | 1,027,696 | 47.31 | 0.71 | 17 | 42 | 59 | 1 |
| | Labour | 614,937 | 27.48 | 6.50 | 762,897 | 35.12 | 0.10 | 12 | 22 | 34 | 9 |
| | Green | 247,372 | 11.06 | 4.33 | 155,492 | 7.16 | 1.53 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 5 |
| | NZ First | 147,544 | 6.59 | 2.53 | 39,892 | 1.84 | 0.15 | 8 | 0 | 8 | 8 |
| | Māori Party | 31,982 | 1.43 | 0.96 | 39,320 | 1.81 | 1.53 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| | Mana | 24,168 | 1.08 | new | 29,872 | 1.38 | new | 0 | 1 | 1 | new |
| | ACT | 23,889 | 1.07 | 2.58 | 31,001 | 1.43 | 1.56 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| | United Future | 13,443 | 0.60 | 0.27 | 18,792 | 0.87 | 0.26 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| | Conservative | 59,237 | 2.65 | new | 51,678 | 2.38 | new | 0 | 0 | 0 | new |
| | Legalise Cannabis | 11,738 | 0.52 | 0.12 | 6,384 | 0.29 | 0.12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| | Democrats | 1,714 | 0.08 | 0.03 | 2,255 | 0.10 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| | Libertarianz | 1,595 | 0.07 | 0.02 | 1,459 | 0.07 | 0.01 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| | Alliance | 1,209 | 0.05 | 0.03 | 1,245 | 0.06 | 0.02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| | Unregistered parties | — | — | — | 1,557 | 0.07 | 0.01 | — | | 0 | |
| | Independent | — | — | — | 2,894 | 0.13 | 0.40 | — | | 0 | |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 2,237,464 | 98.18 | 0.48 | 2,172,434 | 95.32 | 1.47 | | | | |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | 19,872 | 0.87 | 0.37 | 53,332 | 2.34 | 1.27 | | | | |
| Disallowed votes | Disallowed votes | 21,653 | 0.95 | 0.11 | 53,223 | 2.34 | 0.20 | | | | |
| Below electoral threshold | Below electoral threshold | 75,493 | 3.31 | | — | — | — | | | | |
| Total | Total | 2,278,989 | 100 | | 2,278,989 | 100 | | 51 | 70 | 121 | 1 |
| Eligible voters and Turnout | Eligible voters and Turnout | 3,070,847 | 74.21 | 5.25 | 3,070,847 | 74.21 | 5.25 | | | | |

### Votes summary

Constituency Vote
National
47.31%
Labour
35.12%
Green
7.16%
Conservative
2.38%
NZ First
1.84%
Māori
1.81%
ACT
1.43%
Mana
1.38%
United Future
0.87%
Others
0.70% :
Party Vote
National
47.31%
Labour
27.48%
Green
11.06%
NZ First
6.59%
Conservative
2.65%
Māori
1.43%
Mana
1.08%
ACT
1.07%
United Future
0.60%
Others
0.73% :
Parliament seats
National
48.76%
Labour
28.09%
Green
11.57%
NZ First
6.61%
Māori
2.47%
Mana
0.83%
ACT
0.83%
United Future
0.83% :

### Electorate results

Prior to the election, the National Party held the majority of the electorate seats with 41. Labour held 20 seats, Māori held four seats, and ACT, Mana, Progressive, United Future and an ex-Labour independent held one seat each.
After the election, National gained one seat to hold 42 seats, Labour gained three seats to hold 23 electorates, Māori lost one seat to hold three, and ACT, Mana, and United Future held steady with one seat each. A National or Labour candidate took second place in all the general electorates except Rodney, where it was Conservative Party leader Colin Craig.
In eleven electorates, the incumbents did not seek re-election, and new MPs were elected. In Coromandel, North Shore, Northland, Rangitikei, Rodney and Tāmaki, the seats were passed from incumbent National MPs to new National MPs; in Epsom, the seat was passed from the incumbent ACT MP to the new ACT MP; and in Dunedin North and Manurewa, the seats were passed from incumbent Labour MPs to new Labour MPs. Labour also won Te Atatū from the retiring ex-Labour independent, and Wigram from the retiring Progressive MP.
Of the 59 seats where the incumbent sought re-election, four changed hands. In West Coast-Tasman, Labour's Damien O'Connor regained the seat from National's Chris Auchinvole, who defeated him for the seat in 2008. In Waimakariri, National's Kate Wilkinson defeated Labour MP Clayton Cosgrove, and in Te Tai Tonga, Labour's Rino Tirikatene defeated Maori Party MP Rahui Katene. Christchurch Central on election night ended with incumbent Labour MP Brendon Burns and National's Nicky Wagner tied on 10,493 votes each, and on official counts, swung to Nicky Wagner with a 45-vote majority, increasing to 47 votes on a judicial recount. Despite losing their electorate seats, Chris Auchinvole and Clayton Cosgrove were re-elected into parliament via the party list.
On election night, Waitakere was won by incumbent National MP Paula Bennett with a 349-vote majority over Labour's Carmel Sepuloni. On official counts, it swung to Sepuloni with a majority of 11 votes, and Bennett subsequently requested a judicial recount, and on the recount, the seat swung back to Bennett with a majority of nine votes. Bennett was declared elected, and Sepuloni was not returned via the party list due to her list ranking, being replaced in the Labour caucus with Raymond Huo.
Five electorates returned with the winner having a majority of less than one thousand – Waitakere (9), Christchurch Central (47), Waimakariri (642), Auckland Central (717) and Tāmaki Makaurau (936).
The table below shows the results of the 2011 general election:
Key:
| National | Labour | NZ First | ACT |
| United Future | Māori Party | Mana Party | Conservative |
Electorate results of the 2011 New Zealand general election :
| Electorate | Incumbent | Winner | Winner | Majority | Runner up |
| Auckland Central | Nikki Kaye | Nikki Kaye | Nikki Kaye | 717 | Jacinda Ardern |
| Bay of Plenty | Tony Ryall | Tony Ryall | Tony Ryall | 17,760 | Carol Devoy-Heena |
| Botany | Pansy Wong | | Jami-Lee Ross | 10,741 | Chao-Fu Wu |
| Christchurch Central | Brendon Burns | | Nicky Wagner | 47 | Brendon Burns |
| Christchurch East | Lianne Dalziel | Lianne Dalziel | Lianne Dalziel | 5,334 | Aaron Gilmore |
| Clutha-Southland | Bill English | Bill English | Bill English | 16,168 | Tat Loo |
| Coromandel | Sandra Goudie | | Scott Simpson | 12,740 | Hugh Kininmonth |
| Dunedin North | Pete Hodgson | | David Clark | 3,489 | Michael Woodhouse |
| Dunedin South | Clare Curran | Clare Curran | Clare Curran | 4,175 | Jo Hayes |
| East Coast | Anne Tolley | Anne Tolley | Anne Tolley | 4,774 | Moana Mackey |
| East Coast Bays | Murray McCully | Murray McCully | Murray McCully | 14,641 | Vivienne Goldsmith |
| Epsom | Rodney Hide | | John Banks | 2,261 | Paul Goldsmith |
| Hamilton East | David Bennett | David Bennett | David Bennett | 8,275 | Sehai Orgad |
| Hamilton West | Tim Macindoe | Tim Macindoe | Tim Macindoe | 4,418 | Sue Moroney |
| Helensville | John Key | John Key | John Key | 21,066 | Jeremy Greenbrook-Held |
| Hunua | Paul Hutchison | Paul Hutchison | Paul Hutchison | 16,797 | Richard Hills |
| Hutt South | Trevor Mallard | Trevor Mallard | Trevor Mallard | 4,825 | Paul Quinn |
| Ilam | Gerry Brownlee | Gerry Brownlee | Gerry Brownlee | 13,312 | John Parsons |
| Invercargill | Eric Roy | Eric Roy | Eric Roy | 6,263 | Lesley Soper |
| Kaikōura | Colin King | Colin King | Colin King | 11,445 | Liz Collyns |
| Mana | Kris Faafoi | Kris Faafoi | Kris Faafoi | 2,230 | Hekia Parata |
| Māngere | William Sio | William Sio | William Sio | 15,159 | Claudette Hauiti |
| Manukau East | Ross Robertson | Ross Robertson | Ross Robertson | 15,838 | Kanwaljit Singh Bakshi |
| Manurewa | George Hawkins | | Louisa Wall | 8,610 | Cam Calder |
| Maungakiekie | Sam Lotu-Iiga | Sam Lotu-Iiga | Sam Lotu-Iiga | 3,021 | Carol Beaumont |
| Mt Albert | David Shearer | David Shearer | David Shearer | 10,021 | Melissa Lee |
| Mt Roskill | Phil Goff | Phil Goff | Phil Goff | 7,271 | Jackie Blue |
| Napier | Chris Tremain | Chris Tremain | Chris Tremain | 3,701 | Stuart Nash |
| Nelson | Nick Smith | Nick Smith | Nick Smith | 7,088 | Maryan Street |
| New Lynn | David Cunliffe | David Cunliffe | David Cunliffe | 5,190 | Tim Groser |
| New Plymouth | Jonathan Young | Jonathan Young | Jonathan Young | 4,270 | Andrew Little |
| North Shore | Wayne Mapp | | Maggie Barry | 15,228 | Ben Clark |
| Northcote | Jonathan Coleman | Jonathan Coleman | Jonathan Coleman | 9,379 | Paula Gillon |
| Northland | John Carter | | Mike Sabin | 11,362 | Lynette Stewart |
| Ōhariu | Peter Dunne | Peter Dunne | Peter Dunne | 1,392 | Charles Chauvel |
| Ōtaki | Nathan Guy | Nathan Guy | Nathan Guy | 5,231 | Peter Foster |
| Pakuranga | Maurice Williamson | Maurice Williamson | Maurice Williamson | 13,846 | Sunny Kaushal |
| Palmerston North | Iain Lees-Galloway | Iain Lees-Galloway | Iain Lees-Galloway | 3,285 | Leonie Hapeta |
| Papakura | Judith Collins | Judith Collins | Judith Collins | 9,890 | Jerome Mika |
| Port Hills | Ruth Dyson | Ruth Dyson | Ruth Dyson | 3,097 | David Carter |
| Rangitata | Jo Goodhew | Jo Goodhew | Jo Goodhew | 6,537 | Julian Blanchard |
| Rangitīkei | Simon Power | | Ian McKelvie | 9,382 | Josie Pagani |
| Rimutaka | Chris Hipkins | Chris Hipkins | Chris Hipkins | 3,286 | Jonathan Fletcher |
| Rodney | Lockwood Smith | | Mark Mitchell | 12,222 | Colin Craig |
| Rongotai | Annette King | Annette King | Annette King | 9,047 | Chris Finlayson |
| Rotorua | Todd McClay | Todd McClay | Todd McClay | 7,357 | Steve Chadwick |
| Selwyn | Amy Adams | Amy Adams | Amy Adams | 19,451 | Jo Mclean |
| Tāmaki | Allan Peachey | | Simon O'Connor | 17,786 | Nick Iusitini Bakulich |
| Taranaki-King Country | Shane Ardern | Shane Ardern | Shane Ardern | 15,089 | Rick Barker |
| Taupō | Louise Upston | Louise Upston | Louise Upston | 14,115 | Frances Campbell |
| Tauranga | Simon Bridges | Simon Bridges | Simon Bridges | 17,264 | Deborah Mahuta-Coyle |
| Te Atatū | Chris Carter | | Phil Twyford | 5,416 | Tau Henare |
| Tukituki | Craig Foss | Craig Foss | Craig Foss | 9,660 | Julia Haydon-Carr |
| Waikato | Lindsay Tisch | Lindsay Tisch | Lindsay Tisch | 14,198 | Kate Sutton |
| Waimakariri | Clayton Cosgrove | | Kate Wilkinson | 642 | Clayton Cosgrove |
| Wairarapa | John Hayes | John Hayes | John Hayes | 7,135 | Michael Bott |
| Waitakere | Paula Bennett | Paula Bennett | Paula Bennett | 9 | Carmel Sepuloni |
| Waitaki | Jacqui Dean | Jacqui Dean | Jacqui Dean | 14,143 | Barry Monks |
| Wellington Central | Grant Robertson | Grant Robertson | Grant Robertson | 6,376 | Paul Foster-Bell |
| West Coast-Tasman | Chris Auchinvole | | Damien O'Connor | 2,539 | Chris Auchinvole |
| Whanganui | Chester Borrows | Chester Borrows | Chester Borrows | 5,046 | Hamish McDouall |
| Whangarei | Phil Heatley | Phil Heatley | Phil Heatley | 12,447 | Pat Newman |
| Wigram | Jim Anderton | | Megan Woods | 1,500 | Sam Collins |
| Māori Electorates ||||||||
| Hauraki-Waikato | Nanaia Mahuta | Nanaia Mahuta | Nanaia Mahuta | 5,935 | Angeline Greensill |
| Ikaroa-Rāwhiti | Parekura Horomia | Parekura Horomia | Parekura Horomia | 6,541 | Na Raihania |
| Tāmaki Makaurau | Pita Sharples | Pita Sharples | Pita Sharples | 936 | Shane Jones |
| Te Tai Hauāuru | Tariana Turia | Tariana Turia | Tariana Turia | 3,221 | Soraya Peke-Mason |
| Te Tai Tokerau | Hone Harawira | Hone Harawira | Hone Harawira | 1,165 | Kelvin Davis |
| Te Tai Tonga | Rahui Katene | | Rino Tirikatene | 1,475 | Rahui Katene |
| Waiariki | Te Ururoa Flavell | Te Ururoa Flavell | Te Ururoa Flavell | 1,883 | Annette Sykes |
* ^† These people entered Parliament at the election as list MPs

#### Notes

^† These people subsequently entered Parliament at the election as list MPs

### List results

The election was notable for the entry in Parliament of New Zealand's first ever profoundly deaf MP, Mojo Mathers, number 14 on the Green Party's list.
| National | Labour | Green | NZ First |
| Lockwood Smith (03) Chris Finlayson (09) David Carter (10) Tim Groser (12) Steven Joyce (13) Hekia Parata (18) Michael Woodhouse (31) Melissa Lee (34) Kanwal Singh Bakshi (35) Jian Yang (36) Alfred Ngaro (37) Katrina Shanks (38) Paul Goldsmith (39) Tau Henare (40) Chris Auchinvole (43) Jackie Blue (46) Cam Calder (50) | David Parker (04) Maryan Street (07) Clayton Cosgrove (08) Sue Moroney (10) Charles Chauvel (11) Jacinda Ardern (13) Andrew Little (15) Shane Jones (16) Darien Fenton (18) Moana Mackey (19) Rajen Prasad (20) Raymond Huo (21) | Metiria Turei (01) Russel Norman (02) Kevin Hague (03) Catherine Delahunty (04) Kennedy Graham (05) Eugenie Sage (06) Gareth Hughes (07) David Clendon (08) Jan Logie (09) Steffan Browning (10) Denise Roche (11) Holly Walker (12) Julie Anne Genter (13) Mojo Mathers (14) | Winston Peters (01) Tracey Martin (02) Andrew Williams (03) Richard Prosser (04) Barbara Stewart (05) Brendan Horan (06) Denis O'Rourke (07) Asenati Taylor (08) |

#### Unsuccessful list candidates

| National | Aaron Gilmore*, Paul Quinn, Paul Foster-Bell*, Claudette Hauiti*, Jo Hayes*, Leonie Hapeta, Sam Collins, Jonathan Fletcher, Heather Tanner, Denise Krum, Carolyn O'Fallon, Viv Gurrey, Karen Rolleston, Brett Hudson, Linda Cooper, Karl Varley |
| Labour | Carol Beaumont*, Kelvin Davis*, Carmel Sepuloni, Rick Barker, Deborah Mahuta-Coyle, Stuart Nash, Brendon Burns, Michael Wood, Steve Chadwick, Kate Sutton, Jerome Mika, Josie Pagani, Lynette Stewart, Jordan Carter, Christine Rose, Glenda Alexander, Susan Zhu, Sehai Orgad, Mea'ole Keil, Richard Hills, Anahila Suisuiki, Hamish McDouall, Louis Te Kani, Tat Loo, Soraya Peke-Mason, Julian Blanchard, Peter Foster, Pat Newman, Julia Haydon-Carr, Michael Bott, Vivienne Goldsmith, Nick Bakulich, Chris Yoo, Barry Monks, Hugh Kininmonth, Jo Kim, Paula Gillon, Carol Devoy-Heena, Ben Clark, Chao-Fu Wu |
| Green | James Shaw, David Hay, Richard Leckinger, Aaryn Barlow, Jeanette Elley, Sea Rotmann, Michael Gilchrist, Dora Langsbury, David Kennedy, Tane Woodley, Joseph Burston, Mikaere Curtis, Shane Gallagher, Saffron Toms, Stephen Tollestrup, Zachary Dorner, Paul Bailey, Rick Bazeley, Maree Brannigan, Caroline Conroy, Sue Coutts, Pauline Evans, Rachael Goldsmith, Cameron Harper, John Kelcher, Alex Kruize, Tom Land, Gerrie Ligtenberg, Jim MacDonald, Nick Marryatt, Zane McCarthy, Jack McDonald, Ian McLean, John Milnes, Darryl Monteith, Robert Moore, Teresa Moore, David Moorhouse, Todd Ross, Brett Stansfield, Geoff Steedman, Gary Stewart, Vernon Tava, Corrina Tucker, Pieter Watson, Charmaine Watts, Richard Wesley |
| NZ First | Helen Mulford, Hugh Barr, Fletcher Tabuteau, Pita Paraone, Brent Catchpole, Ben Craven, Jerry Ho, Bill Gudgeon, Kevin Gardener, Ray Dolman, David Scott, Randall Ratana, Mahesh Bindra, Edwin Perry, Dion Jelley, John Hall, Kevin Stone, Doug Nabbs, Brett Pierson, Olivia Ilalio, Gordon Stewart, Tamati Reid, Ian Brougham, Bill Woods, Allen Davies |
| Conservative | Colin Craig, Kathy Sheldrake, Larry Baldock, Fa'avae Gagamoe, Brian Dobbs, Roy Brown, Simonne Dyer, Simon Kan, Litia Simpson, Kevin Campbell, Paul Young, Leighton Baker, Feleti Key, Claire Holley, Frank John Naea, Frank Poching, Jesse Misa, Bob Daw, Lance Gedge, Robyn Jackson, Pat Gregory, Timothy de Vries, Melanie Taylor, Cynthia Liu, Craig Jensen, Oliver Vitali, Danny Mountain, Ivan Bailey, Brent Reid, Michael Cooke |
| Māori Party | Waihoroi Shortland, Kaapua Smith, Wheturangi Walsh-Tapiata, Tina Porou, Awanui Black, Davina Murray, Josie Peita, Paora Te Hurihanganui, Fallyn Flavell, Daryl Christie, Tom Phillips, Tim Morrison, Tamai Nicholson, Aroha Rickus |
| ACT | Don Brash, Catherine Isaac, Don Nicolson, David Seymour, Chris Simmons, Stephen Whittington, Kath McCabe, Robyn Stent, John Thompson, John Ormond, Lyn Murphy, Kevin Moratti, Robin Grieve, Pratima Nand, Dominic Costello, Toni Severin, Richard Evans, Ian Cummings, Gareth Veale, Toby Hutton, Daniel Stratton, Robert Burnside, Hayden Fitzgerald, Alex Speirs, Peter McCaffrey, Shane Atkinson, Allan Birchfield, Robin Boom, Stephen Boyle, Barry Brill, Ian Carline, Tom Corbett, Casey Costello, Alwyn Courtenay, Alan Daniel Davidson, Kimberly Hannah, Beth Houlbrooke, Paul Hufflett, Rosanne Jollands, Nick Kearney, Tim Kronfeld, Joel Latimer, Jonathan Macfarlane, Garry Mallett, Guy McCallum, Colin Nicholls, John Norvill, David Peterson, James Read, Geoff Russell, Andrew Sharrock, Barbara Steinijans, Michael Warren, Vince Ashworth |
| United Future New Zealand | Doug Stevens, Rob Eaddy, Sultan Eusoff, Alan Simmons, Bryan Mockridge, Vanessa Roberts, Pete George, Ram Prakash, Martin Gibson, Clyde Graf, Damian Light, Andrew McMillan, Diane Brown, Brian Carter, Johnny Miller, Ian Gaskin |
| Mana | Annette Sykes, John Minto, Sue Bradford, Misty Harrison, James Papali’i, Tawhai McClutchie, Angeline Greensill, Jayson Gardiner, Richard Shortland Cooper, Peter Cleave, Val Irwin, Sharon Stevens, Keriana Reedy, Pat O'Dea, Rod Paul, Grant Rogers, Te Nguha Huirama-Patuwai, Barry Tumai, Ngawai Herewini |
| Legalise Cannabis | Michael Appleby, Michael Britnell, Maki Herbert, Julian Crawford, Jeff Lye, Jasmin Hewlett, Emma-Jane Mihaere-Kingi, Steven Wilkinson, Richard Goode, Fred MacDonald, Leo Biggs, Jay Fitton, Romana Manning, Geoff McTague, Jamie Dombroski, Christine Mitchell, Dwayne Sherwood, Abe Gray, Sean Norris, Adrian McDermott, Philip Pophristoff, Neville Yates, Mark Bradford, Blair Anderson, Kevin O'Connell, Paula Lambert, Irinka Britnell, Paul McMullan |
| Democrats | Stephnie de Ruyter, John Pemberton, Warren Voight, Katherine Ransom, Carolyn McKenzie, Hessel van Wieren, Heather Smith, Jeremy Noble, Barry Pulford, John McCaskey, Huia Mitchell, Ken Goodhue, Les Port, Robert Mills, Harry Alchin-Smith, Errol Baird, Peter Adcock-White, John Ring, Kelly Balsom, David Espin, Ross Hayward, Gary Gribben, Ron England, David Tranter |
| Libertarianz | Richard McGrath, Sean Fitzpatrick, Peter Cresswell, Reagan Cutting, Peter Osborne, Michael Murphy, Shane Pleasance, Robert Palmer, Bernard Darnton, Helen Hughes, Colin Cross, Nik Haden, Luke Howison, Phil Howison, Andrew Couper, Mike Webber, Bruce Whitehead, Donald Rowberry, Ken Riddle, Peter Linton, Allan Munro, Ian Hayes, Shirley Riddle, Callum McPetrie, Elahrairah Zamora, Euan McPetrie, Mitch Lees |
| Alliance | Kay Murray, Andrew McKenzie, Kevin Campbell, Jim Flynn, Paul Piesse, Victor Billot, Mary O'Neill, Kelly Buchanan, Robert van Ruyssevelt, Jen Olsen, Tom Dowie, Thomas O'Neill, Eunice Billot, Norman MacRitchie |

##### Notes

* These party list members would eventually enter parliament in the term as other list MPs elected resigned from parliament.
* These party list members have since resigned.

### Changes in MPs

In total, 25 new MPs were elected to Parliament, and three former MPs returned.
New MPs: Scott Simpson, Maggie Barry, Mike Sabin, Ian McKelvie, Mark Mitchell, Simon O'Connor, Alfred Ngaro, Jian Yang, Paul Goldsmith, David Clark, Rino Tirikatene, Megan Woods, Andrew Little, Eugenie Sage, Jan Logie, Steffan Browning, Denise Roche, Holly Walker, Julie Anne Genter, Tracey Martin, Andrew Williams, Richard Prosser, Denis O'Rourke, Asenati Taylor, Brendan Horan
Returning MPs: John Banks, Winston Peters, Barbara Stewart
Defeated MPs: Paul Quinn, Steve Chadwick, Stuart Nash, Carmel Sepuloni, Rick Barker, Rahui Katene
Defeated MPs who later returned during the 50th Parliament Aaron Gilmore, Carol Beaumont, Kelvin Davis

### Election expenses

The Electoral Commission released party electoral expense returns on 21 March 2012, stating how much each party spent on campaigning between 26 August and 25 November 2011. Candidate only expenses were excluded.
Of note in the party expenses was the $1.88 million spent by the Conservative Party, spending more than but gaining less than one-tenth of the votes of the Labour Party. Translated into dollars spent per party vote gained, the Conservatives spent $31.71 per vote, compared to Labour's $2.91 and National's $2.19.
| Party | Party | Campaign expenditure | Party votes received | Expenditure per party vote |
| | National | $2,321,216 | 1,058,636 | $2.19 |
| | Conservative | $1,878,486 | 59,237 | $31.71 |
| | Labour | $1,789,152 | 614,937 | $2.91 |
| | Green | $779,618 | 247,372 | $3.15 |
| | ACT | $617,035 | 23,889 | $25.83 |
| | NZ First | $155,903 | 147,544 | $1.06 |
| | Māori Party | $72,173 | 31,982 | $2.26 |
| | Mana | $60,082 | 24,168 | $2.49 |
| | Democrats | $34,676 | 1,714 | $20.23 |
| | United Future New Zealand | $27,719 | 13,443 | $2.06 |
| | Legalise Cannabis | $4,003 | 11,738 | $0.34 |
| | Libertarianz | $2,760 | 1,595 | $1.73 |
| | Alliance | $2,407 | 1,209 | $1.99 |
| Total/Average | Total/Average | $7,745,081 | 2,237,464 | $3.46 |

## Post-election events
### Changes in party leadership

For the ACT party the mediocre election results on 26 November 2011 (1.1% of the party vote, with no list MPs, 1 electorate MP) resulted in Don Brash tendering his resignation as leader, stating that he took full responsibility for the party's poor performance.
On 29 November the leader of the Labour party Phil Goff and the deputy leader Annette King tendered their resignations to a meeting of the caucus, effective on Tuesday 13 December 2011. After a fortnight-long leadership campaign and election, David Shearer, with deputy Grant Robertson, won Labour caucus support over the ticket of David Cunliffe and Nanaia Mahuta.