2029 New Zealand general election (Darthehr)

The 2029 New Zealand general election was held on 24 November 2029 to determine the composition of the 56th Parliament of New Zealand. Voters elect 120 members to the House of Representatives under the mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting system, with 72 members elected from single member electorates and the remaining members elected from closed party lists. 
== Background ==
The previous election resulted in a victory for the National Party and the formation of a coalition government between the top two right-wing parties National and ACT for the 55th Parliament. Christopher Luxon was granted a second term as Prime Minister, whilst Brooke Van Velden resumed her position as Deputy Prime Minister.
On the 1st of March, 2027, Marama Davidson announced her retirement as Green co-leader, leaving Chlöe Swarbrick as the sole leader of the Green party as they struggled to find a new co-leader. During this time, Swarbrick met Equal Justice party leader Riley Leone, and after finding their immense similarities in political vision and idea of what New Zealand should be, the two decided to merge parties to form the New Horizons party. Policies from this party largely resembled those of the former party Green, and later many Labour voters would turn to this party as a better solution on the Left. The 14 seats held by the Green Party were given to the New Horizons Party.
After the dismantlement of the British Commonwealth on the 14th of August, 2027, and the establishment of the Republic of New Zealand the next day, many extremist and conspiracist groups incited by Liz Gunn committed large protest actions across the country, believing that the National Party would attempt to strip people's freedoms and establish a one-party state in the Republic's policies, garnering many leftists to their cause who feared the Labour Party may not be re-elected. On the 20th, a second convoy was established which occupied Parliament grounds for the second time. This time, the protest was more violent, and after some extremists began shooting at police on the 1st of September, the Battle of Parliament Grounds occured, resulting in the military being called in and the arrest of Liz Gunn among others. Christopher Luxon later released a statement to the nation, thanking the police and military for their efficient response, honouring those who were killed, and condemning the act of political violence.
Opposition Leader Chris Hipkins, on the other hand, made the mistake of endorsing the protests during the early days, writing on X: "Good to see our brave voters standing up for what is right! A good reminder that the people of New Zealand will not tolerate having no say in their government!" Although this post was deleted a few days later as the protests got more violent, Luxon was able to use the post to blame the Left for "inciting acts of violence against this country." Following this, Labour saw its polling drop to historic lows, an event which Chlöe Swarbrick took advantage of by inviting the disillusioned voters of the Left to "a more stable solution." This marked the beginning of New Horizon's transition to become the dominant party of the Left.
Meanwhile, following their poor performance in the 2026 election, Natalia Albert resigned as leader of the Opportunities Party on the 13th of May, 2028. Following this, the party struggled to find a new leader and eventually joined the New Horizons Party.
On the first of July, 2028, amidst further declining Labour popularity, Chris Hipkins announced his resignation. As the party struggled to find a new leader, former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was invited back, and surprisingly accepted to reenter politics and resume leadership of the Labour Party. This change in leadership brought back some Labour voters from the New Horizons Party.
On the 1st of February 2029, Winston Peters decided to retire from politics, and handed over leadership of the NZ First party to Shane Jones. The younger leadership of the party allowed Jones to make enormous reforms with how the party appealed to young people, causing a huge surge in the polls and NZ First becoming more popular than even Labour. He became responsible for achieving a large shift in the mindsets of young people, demonstrating to them conservative values and making propaganda against the New Horizon and Labour parties in such a way that the youth of the country began to become more right-wing. This was recognized as an enormous achievement.
==Election date and schedule==
The election was decided to be held on the 24th of November, 2029.
==Parties and candidates==
Political parties registered with the Electoral Commission can contest the general election as a party. Parties must have at least 500 financial members, an auditor, and an appropriate party name. A registered party must submit a party list to contest the party vote. Unregistered parties and independents can contest the electorate vote only.
Since the 2026 election, two parties had been deregistered: Democracy NZ on 25th May, 2027, and NZ Loyal on 1st September, 2027.
Party	Party 	Leader(s) 	Founded	Ideology 	2026 election result	2026 election result	Seats before election
Party	Party 	Leader(s) 	Founded	Ideology 	% party vote 	seats 	Seats before election
 	National 	Christopher Luxon 	1936 	Conservatism 	42.08% 	51 	51
 	Labour 	Jacinda Ardern 	1916 	Social Democracy 	27.23% 	39 	39
 	ACT 	Brooke van Velden 	1994 	Classical liberalism, conservatism 	8.66% 	13 	13
 	NZ First 	Shane Jones 	1993 	Nationalism, populism, social conservatism	2.85% 	0 	0
 	Te Pāti Māori 	Rawiri Waititi / Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke	2004 	Maori rights, tino rangatiratanga 	2.10% 	5 	5
 	Animal Justice 	Anna Rippon / Robert McNeil 	2023 	Animal rights 	0.18% 	0 	0
 	Leighton Baker Party	Leighton Baker 	2023 	 	0.07% 	0 	0
 	New Horizons 	Chlöe Swarbrick / Riley Leone 	2027 	Green politics, social justice 	 	 	
 	Sovereignty 	Walter Bone 	2028 	Ultranationalism, isolationism 	 	 	
===MPs not running for re-election===
Name 	Party	Party 	Electorate/List	Term in office	Date announced
Marama Davidson	 	Green 	List 	2017-2029 	1 March 2027
Winston Peters 	 	NZ First	List 	1978-2029 	1 February 2029
Shane Reti 	 	National	Whangārei 	2014-2029 	20 March 2029
Peeni Henare 	 	Labour 	Tāmaki Makaurau	2017-2029 	22 March 2029
Gerry Brownlee 	 	National	Ilam 	1996-2029 	3 April 2029
Judith Collins 	 	National	Papakura 	2002-2029 	10 April 2029
Carmel Sepuloni	 	Labour 	Kelston 	2014-2029 	18 April 2029
== Opinion Polls ==
Several polling firms conducted opinion polls during the term of the 55th New Zealand Parliament leading up to the 2029 general election.
===Seat Projections===
Source 	Seats in parliament	Seats in parliament	Seats in parliament	Seats in parliament	Seats in parliament	Likely government formation(s)
Source 	NAT 	NZF 	ACT 	LAB 	Total 	Likely government formation(s)
2029 election result 24 November 2029	62 	26 	16 	16 	120 	National (62)
1 News November 2029 poll 	65 	22 	15 	18 	120 	National (65)
Newshub 14-22 Oct 2029 poll 	65 	24 	13 	18 	120 	National (65)
Guardian Essential 3-9 Oct 2029 poll 	60 	28 	11 	21 	120 	National (60)
Roy Morgan 14-24 Sep 2029 poll 	58 	28 	14 	20 	120 	National-ACT (72)
Taxpayer's Union 1-6 Sep 2029 poll 	61 	23 	13 	23 	120 	National (61)
Talbot Mills 12-15 Aug 2029 poll 	58 	27 	17 	18 	120 	National-ACT (75)
The Post 2-6 Aug 2029 poll 	63 	23 	14 	20 	120 	National (63)
== Voting ==
Overseas voting for the 2029 New Zealand general election opened on 4 November, allowing overseas voters to cast their ballots until 7:00 pm on 24 November. 85 voting locations were set up worldwide, including 14 in Australia, six in China, five in the United States, and one in England. Overseas voters had the option to download their voting papers from vote.nz and upload their completed forms onto the same website. By 4 November, the Electoral Commission confirmed that 85,000 voters had overseas addresses.
Advance voting commenced on 14 November 2029, with 1,525,462 advance votes cast by 22 November. This figure showed a moderate increase from the 2026 general election, where 1,455,967 advance votes were cast.
On 18 November, it was announced that 2,800 polling booths would be set up across New Zealand for the 2029 general election. Out of these, 900 booths opened early for advance voting, but 320 would not be open on polling day. The decision on the opening days and times of individual polling booths was based on factors such as agreements with location owners, availability of staff, and local demand.
Polling booths opened at 9:00 am on the 24th of November 2029 and closed at 7:00 pm. Throughout the day, there were reports of minor issues, such as voters having to cast special votes due to their names not appearing on the electoral roll at certain polling stations. Despite these challenges, the Electoral Commission managed to address the problems promptly, ensuring that voting proceeded smoothly.
==Results==
Party	Party 	Party Vote	Party Vote 	Party Vote	Party Vote	Electorate Vote Sum	Electorate Vote Sum	Electorate Vote Sum	Electorate Vote Sum	Total seats	+/-
Party	Party 	Votes 	Of total (%)	Change 	Seats 	Votes 	Of total (%) 	Change 	Seats 	Total seats	+/-
 	National 	1,538,506 	51.70% 	9.62 	18 	1,410,835 	47.41% 	11.24 	44 	62 	11
 	NZ First 	647,541 	21.76% 	18.91 	10 	431,782 	14.51% 	11.82 	16 	26 	26
 	ACT 	404,713 	13.60% 	4.94 	12 	285,938 	9.61% 	2.93 	4 	16 	3
 	Labour 	384,477 	12.92% 	14.31 	8 	800,711 	27.29% 	3.92 	8 	16 	23
 	Māori 	95,145 	3.20% 	1.10 	0 	63,385 	2.13% 	2.08 	0 	0 	5
 	New Horizons 	84,704 	2.85% 	new 	0 	90,281 	3.03% 	new 	0 	0 	new
 	Sovereignty 	19,576 	0.66% 	new 	0 	20,261 	0.68% 	new 	0 	0 	new
 	Animal Justice 	4,643 	0.16% 	0.07 	0 	5,227 	0.18% 	0.09 	0 	0 	
 	Leighton Baker Party	3,437 	0.12% 	0.04 	0 	3,847 	0.13% 	0.05 	0 	0 	
== Government Formation ==
After preliminary results were released on the 25th of November, Christopher Luxon announced his victory and intention to form a National government as the party had a majority of seats. On the 1st of December 2029, Luxon announced that he would be Prime Minister for a third term, with Nicola Willis as the Deputy Prime Minister. The new government was sworn in on the 4th, and the first official Cabinet meeting was held on the 7th of December, 2029.
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