Labour leader Jacinda Ardern has been rewarded by voters with a landslide win — delivering her power in her own right, and an absolute drubbing to the National Party.
Labour has smashed National's hold on provincial New Zealand, capturing 15 formerly National seats on elecyion-night results.
With 96.5 per cent of the vote counted, Labour has grabbed the National seats of Northcote, Upper Harbour, Takanini, Hamilton East, Hamilton West, East Coast, Tukituki, New Plymouth, Whanganui, Ōtaki, Wairarapa, Hutt South, Nelson, Ilam and Rangitata.
That means high-profiles National MPs such as deputy leader Gerry Brownlee (Ilam) Nick Smith (Nelson) and Chris Bishop (Hutt South) have lost their seats.
Green candidate Chloe Swarbrick has also won the former National seat of Auckland Central by a narrow 492-vote margin with 99 per cent of votes counted.
Labour has lost only one seat - the Māori seat of Waiariki, where Māori Party candidate Rawiri Waititi leads Labour's Tamati Coffey by the narrowest of margins, just 36 votes, with two-thirds of the vote counted.
In 2017 National won the vast majority of the 65 general seats - 41 out of what were then 71. It now has only 26.
Last time Labour won only the seven Māori seats plus 22 general electorates - all except three of them in the traditional four main centres of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin. The three exceptions were Napier, Palmerston North and West Coast-Tasman.
Act has held Epsom, the Greens look set to win Auckland Central and the Māori Party is ahead in Waiariki.
However the results are lopsided regionally. As at 11.30pm, National still has 19 of the 36 general seats from Taupō north compared with Labour's 15, whereas south of Taupō Labour is ahead in 22 out of 29 general seats and National leads in only seven.
Labour also still holds six of the seven Māori seats.
Labour's potential gains
Hutt South
National's most marginal seat in 2017 was Hutt South, won by National's Chris Bishop by just 1530 votes after Labour held the seat and its predecessors for 88 years.
Hutt South MP Chris Bishop (right), seen here with Tukituki MP Lawrence Yule (left), has been a star of National's shadow cabinet. Photo / Warren Buckland
Bishop has been a National star in the past three years, rising to seventh place in Judith Collins' current shadow Cabinet with the portfolios of infrastructure, transport and Shadow Leader of the House.
Labour's 2017 candidate Ginny Anderson became a list MP anyway and is standing again in Hutt South and is leading Bishop by 2133 votes.
Auckland Central
Former National Education Minister Nikki Kaye famously beat Jacinda Ardern twice in Auckland Central, in 2011 and 2014, and just held on in 2017 with a margin of 1581 over Labour's Helen White in 2017.
This time Kaye resigned weeks before the election and National had to reschedule its candidate selection after party members complained about the way a shortlist was put together.
White is standing again for Labour and was ahead in pre-election polls, but has also had to battle against a Green Party campaign to elect Chloe Swarbrick in the seat as insurance in case the Greens fall below the 5 per cent threshold nationally.
White wrote on October 8 that Labour wanted to regain the seat which it held from 1919 to 2008 except for one term when it was won by Alliance MP Sandra Lee in 1993.
But with 96 per cent of the votes counted, Swarbrick is ahead with 9060 votes to 8568 for White.
Whanganui
Whanganui, National's third-most-marginal seat, has swung with the national trends throughout most of its history, but its default setting used to be Labour - Labour won it in 21 out of 23 elections from 1919 to 2002.
Local police officer Chester Borrows finally won it for National in 2005 and kept it until he retired at the last election when it was held for National by local lawyer Harete Hipango.
Labour's 2017 candidate Steph Lewis, also a local lawyer, is standing again this year and stands a good chance of riding the nationwide Labour tide to boost Labour's thin holdings in the provinces.
With 94 per cent of the vote counted, Lewis is miles ahead with 19,459 votes to Hipango's 12,638.
The Auckland seat of Maungakiekie (One Tree Hill) is another seat that was held by Labour through most of its history, as the former Ōnehunga seat, from 1938 until 2008 when National's Sam Lotu-Iiga won it.
Maungakiekie National MP Denise Lee blotted her copybook with an email complaining that she was not consulted by party leader Judith Collins. Photo / File
Its current National MP, former Auckland councillor Denise Lee, blotted her copybook two weeks ago when she sent an email to all National MPs complaining that her leader, Collins, announced a review of Auckland Council without consulting Lee as the party's spokesperson on Auckland Council issues.
Lee's majority last time was 2157 votes, National's fourth-lowest. Boundary changes have made it safer for National this time, lopping off Panmure and adding in Royal Oak. Still, Ardern visited the seat this week to support Labour candidate and list MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan.
Lee remains ahead by 573 votes with 98 per cent of the vote counted.
Tukituki
Tukituki (formerly Hastings) was a typical bellwether provincial seat which went with the Government in most post-war elections until 2005 when National won the seat three years before John Key led the party to victory nationally.
National has held it ever since, but current MP Lawrence Yule's majority of 2813 in 2017 was still slim enough to make it vulnerable in a big Labour year.
With 100 per cent of the vote counted, Lorck has won by 16,427 votes to 15,655 for Yule.
Wairarapa
Wairarapa has swung with the Government in most elections since 1935, but like most provincial seats it has been solidly National since 2005 - by a margin of 2872 in 2017.
Its current MP, Alastair Scott, is stepping down this year, and his National replacement, Mike Butterick, faces a tough challenge from well-known Labour list MP Kieran McAnulty.
With 100 per cent of the vote counted, McAnulty has a massive margin of 5411 votes over Butterick.
Nelson
Nelson's National MP Nick Smith is officially our "Father of the House" - the MP with the longest continuous service in Parliament as MP for Tasman from 1990-96 and Nelson since 1996.
Last time he held on thanks to a three-way split. The Greens, which have always done well in Nelson and targeted the seat in 2017, won 23.7 per cent of the vote for their candidate Matt Lawrey, while Labour's Rachel Boyack won 30.3 per cent.
Together they won more than Smith's 40.7 per cent, but the split cost the centre-left victory.
This year's Green candidate, Dr Aaron Stallard, says his priority is the party vote, leaving the centre-left field for the electorate vote clear for Boyack, who is again standing for Labour.
With 100 per cent of the votes counted, Boyack has won easily by 3771 votes over Smith.
East Coast
On the face of it, National's 2017 election majority of 4817 should be impregnable, but a local poll last month put Labour's Kiri Allan ahead of new National candidate Tania Tapsell.
Former National Cabinet minister Anne Tolley is stepping down after holding the seat since 2005.
Allan, a sitting list MP, and Tapsell, a Rotorua councillor, are both Māori women standing in a region where Māori make up about half the population - although many are on the Māori rolls.
With 98 per cent of the vote counted, Allan is well ahead with 18,327 votes to Tapsell's 13,680.
Hamilton East
Like East Coast, Hamilton East's National majority of 5810 votes last time should make it safe for National in any normal year. This may, however, not be a normal year.
Once again National's David Bennett faces a challenge from Jamie Strange, who has been a Labour list MP since 2017.
At 11.30pm Labour candidates are ahead in both Hamilton East, where Strange leads by 1948 votes, and in Hamilton West, where Labour's Gaurav Sharma is 4522 votes ahead of National's Tim Macindoe.
Takanini
Takanini is a completely new electorate being contested for the first time. It is mostly made up of Judith Collins' old Papakura electorate, and smaller portions of the Manurewa and Hunua electorates.
Analysis of 2017 general election data suggests it is "light blue" - likely to have a slight National majority. However, that does not take into account Labour's huge growth in popularity in the past three years, which could make the contest very close.
Both National's candidate, lawyer and businesswoman Rima Nakhle, and the Labour candidate, GP Neru Leavasa, are first-timers.
One factor on National's side is that Nakhle is being helped by Auckland councillor Daniel Newman, a close associate of Collins who is considered one of the best campaigners in the city.
The electorate is also being contested by Elliott Ikilei, deputy leader of New Conservatives, who could steal a few of National's more conservative or hard-right voters.
With 99 per cent of the vote counted, Labour's Leavasa is ahead by 4521 votes.
Māori Party hopes
Tāmaki Makaurau
The Māori Party needs to win an electorate to get back into Parliament this year. It has been arguing that the sitting Labour MPs in all seven Māori seats are sure to get back on the Labour Party list anyway, so voters can get two MPs for the price of one by giving their electorate votes for the Māori Party.
Māori Party co-leaders John Tamihere and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer are vying to win back the seats of Tāmaki Makaurau and Te Tai Hauāuru from Labour. Photo / Supplied
With 91 per cent of the vote counted, Henare is still ahead by 968 votes.
Te Tai Hauāuru
The other Māori Party co-leader, Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, is also reckoned to be in with a good chance of winning back the old Western Māori seat, Te Tai Hauāuru, previously held by party co-founder Tariana Turia from 2002 to 2014.
Current Labour MP Adrian Rurawhe is one of Labour's lowest-profile Māori MPs, although his family links as a great-grandson of Ratana Church founder T.W. Ratana give him local mana.
With 96 per cent of the vote counted, Rurawhe is narrowly holding the seat by 1060 votes.
Waiariki
Waiariki was the last seat held by the Māori Party, and its previous co-leader Te Ururoa Flavell lost by just 1719 votes to Labour's Tamati Coffey in one of the biggest election-night upsets in 2017.
Labour's 2014 candidate for the seat, Rawiri Waititi, is standing this time for the Māori Party. A poll on October 4 found him trailing Coffey by 26 per cent to 38 per cent.
Vision NZ leader Hannah Tamaki, who is also standing in the seat, registered only 2 per cent in the poll, but 24 per cent of voters were still undecided.
Coffey stayed ahead through most of the night, but Waititi has pulled marginally ahead by 337 votes with 94 per cent of the vote counted by 10.45pm.
Northland - NZ First's hope
NZ First leader Winston Peters triumphed in the Northland electorate in a 2015 byelection, when voters could afford to take a punt knowing that it would not threaten John Key's National Government.
A jubilant New Zealand First leader Winston Peters at the Duke of Marlborough in Russell after winning the Northland byelection in 2015. Photo / Peter de Graaf
National's King is exactly 1000 votes ahead of Labour's Willow-Jean Prime with 84 per cent of the vote counted, with Jones running a distant third.
National's wish list
Ōhāriu
Former police union boss and Ōhāriu MP Greg O'Connor says it's "all or nothing" as he bids to defend one of the country's most marginal seats - which has a surprise new contender.
He won the wealthy Wellington electorate by just 1051 votes in 2017, after 33-year representative and United Future Peter Dunne quit the campaign only two weeks before the election and as Jacinda Ardern turned around her party's fortunes.
With 95 per cent of the vote counted, O'Connor is comfortably holding the seat with a margin of 9958 votes.
New Lynn
Labour has held New Lynn since it was created in 1963, but the race this year could be closer than any other. Changes to the electorate's boundary mean that, on paper, the seat has become marginal. The electorate has now absorbed parts of West Auckland which used to be in the National-majority Helensville electorate.
But that is on paper, and 2020 is a very different election to 2017, given Labour's rise in popularity.
Labour's Dr Deborah Russell won the seat in 2017 by 2800 votes. Lisa Whyte, the National candidate and local board member, is low profile and is ranked at 49th on National's list, which means she is likely to need to win the seat to get into Parliament.
Russell is riding the Labour wave with a massive 10,293-vote margin over Whyte with 95 per cent of the vote counted.
Te Atatū
Labour MP Phil Twyford has been growing a comfortable majority in Te Atatū over the past two elections.
Phil Twyford (right), pictured with Roseridge Rest Home resident Dominic Claffery, is saddled with the failures of KiwiBuild and light rail. Photo / Steve Braunias
But as a minister, his failures have been large and high-profile. KiwiBuild has been this Government's most glaring failure, and he lost his housing portfolio because of it. Light rail in Auckland, a key part of his transport portfolio, has also stalled.
Voters are choosing between a high-ranking minister who still has significant power in Cabinet, and a National Party backbencher whose stocks appear to be falling. Alfred Ngaro was demoted by Judith Collins in National's list rankings from 20 to 30, meaning he may need to win the seat to survive as an MP.
Ngaro has also had a bumpy parliamentary term. He briefly considered breaking away from National to form a new Christian party, before deciding to stay.
Twyford is heading off Ngaro with a 6615 margin with 89 per cent of the votes counted.
Banks Peninsula
Last election Labour stalwart Ruth Dyson won Port Hills by a massive 7916 votes, but Dyson's retirement and boundary changes creating the new seat of Banks Peninsula could make the contest more marginal.
Labour has selected Tracey McLellan, the party's senior vice-president and organiser with the NZ Nurses Organisation. McLellan holds a PhD in psychology and worked for some time in clinical research into dementia and childhood brain injury.
National's candidate is Catherine Chu, an identical twin who started university at 15 and began her career in private banking at 18.
With 97.5 per cent of votes counted, McLellan is a huge 11,125 votes ahead.
The old Dunedin South seat was safely Labour with a 2017 majority of 8717 for Labour's Clare Curran. But boundary changes have brought in a big chunk of National-voting rural areas, changing the seat's name to Taieri.
Labour has chosen former lawyer, TV3 journalist and director of the British Council NZ, Ingrid Leary, who moved to Dunedin late last year from Waiheke.
National's candidate is Liam Kernaghan, who previously worked in Wellington as a political adviser to Amy Adams and Simon Bridges.
O'Leary leads Kernaghan by a margin of 10,607 with 98 per cent of the vote counted.
