KEY POINTS:
Auckland swung most strongly towards National, and Wellington the least, in last night's election.
National's share of the Auckland party vote jumped by 6.9 per cent to 49.7 per cent, helping it to pick up three seats from Labour plus the new seat of Botany.
Labour's share of the Auckland vote plunged by 8.7 per cent to just 31.7 per cent, much lower than in any of Helen Clark's three successful elections but comparable with the party's lows in the early to mid-1990s.
The next biggest swings were in the provincial seats in both islands, excluding Hamilton. In North Island provinces Labour dropped 6 per cent to 29.3 per cent and National added an extra 6.1 per cent on to its already hefty lead, taking its share of the party vote to 51.1 per cent.
In South Island provinces, Labour dropped 7.2 per cent to 35.3 per cent and National gained 5.9 per cent to 45.8 per cent.
In Christchurch, Labour fell 6.6 per cent to 35.4 per cent and National picked up 5.2 per cent to reach 44.2 per cent, beating Labour for the first time since at least 1996.
In Hamilton, although National picked up the Hamilton West seat, the swing was modest - Labour down 4.5 per cent to 33 per cent and National up 4.7 per cent to 48.1 per cent.
National's smallest gain, 4 per cent, was in Wellington, where public servants nervous about their jobs under National still voted marginally for Labour, 39.5 per cent to National's 38.5 per cent.
Overall, Labour's share of the nationwide vote dropped by 7 per cent to 33.8 per cent and National's rose by 5.8 per cent to 45.5 per cent.
