Whanganui: how we voted

If the Whanganui electorate did not include South Taranaki, Labour's Steph Lewis would be Whanganui's new MP.

National's Harete Hipango won the seat over Ms Lewis by 1841 votes on Saturday night. But a detailed look at how the Whanganui electorate voted by polling booth shows clear divides between Whanganui and South Taranaki, rural and urban, and high and low socio-economic status.

National voters in the electorate are more likely to be from South Taranaki, rural and living in well-off areas. Labour voters are more likely to be from Whanganui, urban and living in more deprived areas.

In the party vote, Labour won just four South Taranaki polling booths, while National won the remaining 30 booths. Patea and Inglewood were the outliers, being the only South Taranaki towns to vote Labour.

In Whanganui, the party vote was evenly split between Labour and National. Labour won 18 polling booths, and had particularly strong support in places like Castlecliff, Gonville and Aramoho. National took the remaining 17 polling booths, with most of these being in rural areas such as Kai Iwi and Fordell, or in more affluent areas such as Durie Hill and St John's Hill.

But voting statistics for the two major candidates - Ms Hipango and Ms Lewis - tell quite a different story.

While the statistics for South Taranaki were the same as the party vote - four polling booths to Ms Lewis, to Ms Hipango's 30 - in Whanganui Ms Lewis won nearly twice as many polling booths as Ms Hipango.

Voters at polling booths such as St Anne's School in Whanganui, Putiki Parish Hall, electorate headquarters in Taupō Quay, and the YMCA in Springvale gave their party votes to National but their candidate votes to Labour.

There was one polling booth for Whanganui at Massey University in Palmerston North. Voters at this booth had an even split between Labour and National in both party and candidate votes.

The Whanganui electorate vote included 10 prisoners who cast votes. Six voted for Labour, two for National and two for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party.

Of an estimated 56,770 eligible voters in Whanganui, 46,961 enrolled to vote. The total votes cast in the Whanganui electorate was 33,810 - a voter turn-out of 71 per cent. This was lower than the national average of 78.8 per cent.

These figures do not include special votes. The final election results will be released on October 7.