New Zealand general election, 2017

New Zealand general election, 2017

No later than 18 November 2017

All 120 seats (plus any overhang) in the House of Representatives 61 seats needed for a majority Opinion polls   Leader TBD Andrew Little James Shaw / Metiria Turei Party National Labour Green Leader since – 2014 2015 / 2009 Leader's seat – List List / List Last election 60 seats, 47.04% 32 seats, 25.13% 14 seats, 10.70% Current seats 59 32 14 Seats needed 2 29 47   Leader Winston Peters Te Ururoa Flavell / Marama Fox David Seymour Party NZ First Māori ACT Leader since 1993 (party foundation) 2013 / 2014 2014 Leader's seat Northland Waiariki / List Epsom Last election 11 seats, 8.66% 2 seats, 1.32% 1 seat, 0.69% Current seats 12 2 1 Seats needed 49 59 60   Leader Peter Dunne Party United Future Leader since 2002 (party foundation) Leader's seat Ōhāriu Last election 1 seat, 0.22% Current seats 1 Seats needed 60

Incumbent Prime Minister John Key National

The 2017 New Zealand general election will be held after the current 51st New Zealand Parliament is dissolved or expires. The current Parliament was elected on Saturday, 20 September 2014. The last possible date for the election to be held is Saturday, 18 November 2017.

Background

Election date

Unless an early election is called or the election date is set to circumvent holding a by-election, a general election is held every three years. The last election was held on Saturday, 20 September 2014.^[1]

The Governor General must issue writs for an election within seven days of the expiration or dissolution of the current Parliament.^[2] 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 2014 election were returned on 10 October 2014, a day late due to a judicial recount of the Te Tai Tokerau electorate.^[3] As a result, the 51st Parliament will expire, if not dissolved earlier, on Tuesday, 10 October 2017. Consequently, the last day for issuance of writs of election is 17 October 2017. The writs must be returned within 50 days of their issuance (save for any judicial recount or death of a candidate), which will be Wednesday, 6 December 2017.^[4] Because polling day must be a Saturday^[4] and two weeks is generally required for the counting of special votes, the last possible date for the next general election is Saturday, 18 November 2017.

Electorate boundaries

Electorates in the election will be the same as at the 2014 election. New boundaries are not due until early 2019, after the 2018 census.

Marginal seats in 2014

At the 2014 general election, the following seats were won with a majority of less than 1000 votes.

Retiring MPs

Eight existing Members of Parliament have announced that they will not stand for re-election.

List-only MPs

Murray McCully (National) announced in February 2016 that he will not seek re-election as the electorate MP for East Coast Bays but may stay on as a list MP.^[13] Trevor Mallard announced in July 2016 that he will not contest Hutt South, but will run as a list-only candidate, with the intention of becoming Speaker of the House.^[14]

Opinion polling

Opinion polls have been undertaken periodically since the 2014 election by Fairfax Media, MediaWorks New Zealand, The New Zealand Herald, Roy Morgan Research, and Television New Zealand. The graph on the left below shows the collated results of all five polls for parties that polled above the 5% electoral threshold at the 2014 election; The graph on the right shows results for parties that polled between 1% and 4.9%, or won an electorate seat, at the 2014 election.

References

Elections and referendums in New Zealand
General elections	1853 1855 1860–61 1866 1871 1875–76 1879 1881 1884 1887 1890 1893 1896 1899 1902 1905 1908 1911 1914 1919 1922 1925 1928 1931 1935 1938 1943 1946 1949 1951 1954 1957 1960 1963 1966 1969 1972 1975 1978 1981 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1999 2002 2005 2008 2011 2014 Next
Local elections	2004 2007 2010 2013 2016 2019
Referendums	Parliament initiated Alcohol licensing, 1894–1987 Gambling, 1949 Military training, 1949 Sale of Liquor, 1949 Parliamentary term, 1967 Sale of Liquor, 1967 Parliamentary term, 1990 Voting system, 1992 Voting system, 1993 Pensions, 1997 Voting system, 2011 Flag, 2015–16 Citizens initiated Firefighters, 1995 Justice, 1999 MP reduction, 1999 Smacking, 2009 Asset sales, 2013
By-elections Supplementary elections

Parliament of New Zealand
Components	Queen (represented by the Governor-General) Legislative Council (defunct) House of Representatives
Parliamentary officers	Legislative Council Speaker of the Legislative Council (defunct) Chairman of Committees (defunct) House of Representatives Speaker of the House of Representatives Chairman of Committees (defunct) Clerk Prime Minister Leader of the House Ministers of Government Leader of the Opposition Shadow Ministry Whips
Members	Served in both houses Legislative Council Abolishment Previous members of the Legislative Council House of Representatives Current (previous) Women 30+ years Father or Mother of the House
Procedure	Speech from the throne Question time Matter of public importance Readings of bills Queen's Consent Royal assent Select committees
Elections	Next List Legislative Council: None (Previously appointed by Governor General) House of Representatives: mixed-member proportional (current) First Past the Post (previously) Electorates By-elections Supplementary Elections (defunct) Caretaker government
Locations	Parliament House, Russell (Destroyed) Parliament House, Auckland (Destroyed) Parliament House, Wellington (current) Parliamentary Library (current) Bowen House (current)