Green MP Chloe Swarbrick said she was proud of the "yes" campaign for cannabis legalisation. Video / Dean Purcell
Voters who wanted to legalise cannabis tended to come from urban centres, Māori communities, or places where cannabis is more prevalent or where its criminalisation has hit hardest.
The "yes" campaign also seems to have pushed more people to vote, with almost 60 per cent of the 500,000-odd special votesticking "yes"; special votes are cast by those who register on polling day or those voting from outside their electorate, including from overseas.
The final count on the cannabis referendum was 50.7 per cent opposed to legalisation and 48.4 per cent in favour. A larger majority supported euthanasia and the End of Life Choice Bill, with 65.1 per cent in favour and 33.7 per cent opposed.
Data released by the Electoral Commission shows that the only seats with majority opposition to the End of Life Choice Bill were in South Auckland: Māngere, Manurewa, and Panmure-Ōtāhuhu.
These electorates have large Pasifika communities, and a high proportion are Christian.
Urban areas showed the strongest support for the End of Life Choice Bill.
On cannabis, a majority voted "yes" in 19 out of 65 general electorate seats.
In Māori electorate special votes 80 per cent of votes were "yes". The 7 Māori electorates and Wellington Central were the eight electorates with the highest rate of "yes" voting; Māori are three times more likely to be arrested and convicted of a cannabis-related crime.
Ordinary votes were not collected separately for Māori electorates.
Other "yes" areas included Wellington (including Wellington Central, Rongotai, Mana, Ōhāriu and Hutt South), Christchurch (including Chirstchurch, Christchurch East and Banks Peninsula), Dunedin and Auckland (including Auckland Central, Mt Albert, Northcote, and west Auckland electorates Kelston and New Lynn).
Other "yes" electorates were Northland, Whangarei, West Coast-Tasman, East Coast, West Coast-Tasman, Nelson - places where cannabis is more common, or where large Māori populations live.
The strongest opposition to legalising cannabis came from east and south Auckland, including Botany, Pakuranga and Takanini, and rural Canterbury including Rangitata, Selwyn and Waimakariri.
