Elections · Published
New Zealanders voted on Saturday 7 November 2026, and the Electoral Commission began releasing preliminary results from soon after polls closed at 7pm. Those figures are not final. The Commission's own release describes the preliminary table as indicative only, and says it will change once special votes have been checked and counted. Even so, the early picture is very close: Labour leads National on party votes by a margin of roughly 3,650 votes.
The Commission's table, with percentages truncated to two decimal places, gives Labour 29.36 per cent of party votes (710,330) and National 29.21 per cent (706,680). The Greens are on 13.30 per cent, ACT on 10.92 per cent, New Zealand First on 9.78 per cent, the Opportunity Party on 5.96 per cent and Te Pāti Māori on 0.57 per cent. On seats, the preliminary count gives National 42, Labour 36, the Greens 16, ACT 13, New Zealand First 12, Opportunity 7 and Te Pāti Māori 5, for a total of 131. Read as arithmetic rather than as a reported outcome, National, ACT and New Zealand First together would hold 67 seats, one more than half of 131. That combination depends on the preliminary figures holding.
The count so far is large but incomplete. The Commission reports 2,432,403 ordinary votes counted on election night, including informal votes. It estimates a further 399,365 special votes, including 96,947 overseas and dictation votes, and says that estimate is likely to change. The total estimate is 2,831,768 votes. The Commission puts enrolment at 3,796,891 as of 1pm on election day, equal to 93.7 per cent of eligible electors, and estimates turnout at 74.6 per cent of those enrolled. Advance ordinary votes numbered 1,637,183, which the Commission estimates at 67.3 per cent of all ordinary votes cast.
The official process has a fixed timetable. According to the Commission, the official results process starts on Sunday 8 November and is expected to take 20 days. It involves recounting election-day ordinary votes, checking rolls for double voting, allowing 10 days for overseas votes to return, and then counting special votes. The official results are due on Friday 27 November. Nothing has been declared yet, and the Commission's page does not discuss government formation.
Coverage on election night reflected how uncertain the outcome was. ABC's live blog, whose final entry was posted at 8:14pm, described a tight result and said both major parties may struggle to form a government alone. An earlier entry said National was narrowly ahead in seats. Those were snapshots taken while counting was under way, and the Commission's later table supersedes them. The blog also described the Opportunity Party as a possible kingmaker. That is commentary rather than an official position, and the Commission has not said which parties would be needed.
Several questions remain open. The final party vote shares and seat totals will depend on the special votes, which are still an estimate. It is not yet known whether any party will be able to form a government without the support of another, or which parties might negotiate. Because the figures are preliminary, readers should wait for the Commission's official declaration on 27 November before treating any seat total as settled.
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