Four sitting National MPs may be out of Parliament on preliminary results
Four sitting National MPs may be out of Parliament, according to preliminary results from the 2026 general election. They are Nicola Willis, Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith and Gerry Brownlee, RNZ reported.
Christopher Luxon is seeking a second term as Prime Minister, leading a National-led coalition. Willis is second on the National party list, behind Luxon. Bishop is third.
Goldsmith is sixth on the list. He stood in the Epsom electorate against ACT leader David Seymour. Brownlee is ninth on the list and is standing as a list-only candidate. He is also Speaker of the House, who chairs debates in the chamber. Brownlee told RNZ it is close to certain he will not be back in Parliament.
New Zealand uses the mixed-member proportional system, or MMP, which combines electorate seats with seats allocated from party lists. A list-only candidate is not standing in an electorate and enters Parliament only if the party's vote earns enough list seats. National was tipped to win more than 40 electorate seats in the preliminary results, which would mean list-only candidates would not return, RNZ reported.
National's party vote in the preliminary counts was under 30 percent, down from 38 percent in 2023. With 52 percent of votes counted, The Guardian reported that Labour had 29.5 percent and National 29.4 percent. The Greens stood at 13.8 percent, ACT at 10.8 percent, NZ First at 9.6 percent and the Opportunity Party at 5.6 percent.
With 56.4 percent of votes counted, National was on track for 42 seats, ACT for 13 and NZ First for 12, a combined 67 seats, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Preliminary results are released progressively from 7:00pm on the Electoral Commission's results website. Official results are scheduled to be declared on 27 November, according to the Electoral Commission.
