The Labour Party got closer to the historically blue Selwyn seat this election than it has in 27 years.
National's Nicola Grigg won the seat with 18,578 votes, Labour's Reuben Davidson trailed 4943 votes behind on 13,653.
It is the closest Labour has been to winning the electorate since the 1993 election when Ron Mark lost the seat to National's Ruth Richardson by just 888 votes.