2017 New Zealand general election

The **2017 New Zealand general election** took place on Saturday 23 September 2017 to elect the membership of the 52nd New Zealand Parliament along with the Prime Minister of New Zealand. The last parliament was elected on 20 September 2014 and officially ended on 22 August 2017.

Jacinda Ardern became New Zealand's third female Prime Minister, and Winston Peters again became Deputy Prime Minister, a role he had first held in 1996–98. This ended nine years under the National Party Government. Ardern became Prime Minister after the Labour Party agreed to create a coalition with Peters's New Zealand First party, thus making him Deputy Prime Minister. Their shared votes were larger than that of English, thus defeating him.

## About

Voters elected 120 members to the House of Representatives under New Zealand's mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting system, a system in which 71 members were elected from single-member electorates and 49 members were elected from closed party lists.

Around 3.57 million people were registered to vote in the election, with 2.63 million (79.8%) turning out. Advance voting proved popular, with 1.24 million votes cast before election day, more than the previous two elections combined.

## Candidates

The centre-right National Party, led by Prime Minister Bill English, had governed since 2008 in a minority government. It was the first election for English as incumbent Prime Minister, having replaced John Key on 12 December 2016 and the first since 1975 where both major parties had leadership changes. The main opposition parties to the National government were Labour (the official opposition), led by Jacinda Ardern, the Green Party, and New Zealand First.

## Infobox (election)

- **election name**: 2017 New Zealand general election
- **country**: New Zealand
- **type**: parliamentary
- **ongoing**: no
- **previous election**: 2014 New Zealand general election
- **previous year**: 2014
- **outgoing members**: 51st New Zealand Parliament
- **election date**: 23 September 2017
- **next election**: 2020 New Zealand general election
- **next year**: 2020
- **elected members**: 52nd New Zealand Parliament
- **seats for election**: All 120 seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives, House of Representatives
- **majority seats**: 61
- **opinion polls**: Opinion polling for the 2017 New Zealand general election
- **turnout**: 2,630,173 (79.8%) 1.9%
- **1blank**: Electorate vote
- **3blank**: Party vote
- **leader1**: Bill English
- **party1**: New Zealand National Party
- **leader since1**: 2016 New Zealand National Party leadership election, 12 December 2016
- **leaders seat1**: Party-list proportional representation, List
- **last election1**: 60 seats, 47.04%
- **seats before1**: 59
- **seats1**: **56**
- **seat change1**: 3
- **1data1**: **1,114,367**
**44.05%**
 2.03 Percentage point, pp
- **3data1**: **1,152,075**
**44.45%**
 2.59 pp
- **leader2**: Jacinda Ardern
- **leader since2**: 2017 New Zealand Labour Party leadership election, 1 August 2017
- **party2**: New Zealand Labour Party
- **leaders seat2**: Mount Albert (New Zealand electorate), Mount Albert
- **last election2**: 32 seats, 25.13%
- **seats before2**: 32
- **seats2**: 46
- **seat change2**: 14
- **1data2**: 958,155
37.88%
 3.75 pp
- **3data2**: 956,184
36.89%
 11.76 pp
- **leader3**: Winston Peters
- **leader since3**: 18 July 1993
- **party3**: New Zealand First
- **leaders seat3**: Party-list proportional representation, List
_(lost Northland (New Zealand electorate), Northland)_
- **last election3**: 11 seats, 8.66%
- **seats before3**: 12
- **seats3**: 9
- **seat change3**: 3
- **1data3**: 137,816
5.45%
 2.32 pp
- **3data3**: 186,706
7.20%
 1.46 pp
- **leader4**: James Shaw (New Zealand politician), James Shaw
- **leader since4**: 2015 Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand male co-leadership election, 30 May 2015
- **party4**: Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
- **leaders seat4**: Party-list proportional representation, List
- **last election4**: 14 seats, 10.70%
- **seats before4**: 14
- **seats4**: 8
- **seat change4**: 6
- **1data4**: 174,725
6.91%
 0.15 pp
- **3data4**: 162,443
6.27%
4.43 pp
- **leader5**: David Seymour (New Zealand politician), David Seymour
- **leader since5**: 4 October 2014
- **party5**: ACT New Zealand
- **leaders seat5**: Epsom (New Zealand electorate), Epsom
- **last election5**: 1 seat, 0.69%
- **seats before5**: 1
- **seats5**: 1
- **1data5**: 25,471
 1.01%
 0.17 pp
- **3data5**: 13,075
0.50%
  0.19 pp
- **leader6**: Marama Fox
Te Ururoa Flavell
- **leader since6**: October 2014
13 July 2013
- **party6**: Māori Party
- **leaders seat6**: Party-list proportional representation, List
Waiariki (New Zealand electorate), Waiariki
_(lost both seats)_
- **last election6**: 2 seats, 1.32%
- **seats before6**: 2
- **seats6**: 0
- **seat change6**: 2
- **1data6**: 53,247
2.11%
 0.32 pp
- **3data6**: 30,580
1.18%
 0.14 pp
- **map image**: New_Zealand_2017_Election_Results_Map_-_Results_By_Electorate,_Māori_Electorate,_and_Additional_Member_Seats.svg
- **map size**: 450px
- **map caption**: Map of the general election. Electorate results are shown on the left, Maori electorate results in the centre, and the list members on the right.
- **title**: Prime Minister of New Zealand, Prime Minister
- **before election**: Bill English
- **before party**: New Zealand National Party
- **posttitle**: Subsequent Prime Minister
- **after election**: Jacinda Ardern
- **after party**: New Zealand Labour Party, Labour