Hipkins says democracy "shouldn't be a plaything for billionaires"

Labour leader Chris Hipkins has said "Democracy shouldn't be a plaything for billionaires. Democracy should belong to the people," in comments on the vote-splitting strategy used during the election campaign.

Hipkins made the remarks at a Labour Party stand-up in Paekākāriki on 4 November 2026. He said Parliament's overhang currently sits at 11 seats. Overhang seats are the extra seats that arise when a party wins more electorate seats than its party vote entitles it to under the mixed-member proportional (MMP) system.

Hipkins said there will likely be a conversation about further changes to potentially prevent the overhang strategy seen in the election campaign. He also said voter turnout was the second lowest ever recorded. He believed changes made by the previous government had disenfranchised voters.

Outgoing National MP Gerry Brownlee said the vote-splitting campaign had not "worked as it was supposed to". Speaking to RNZ's Midday Report, he said the vote-splitting message had "got through to some people", but that they likely did not know Parliament could grow to over 130 seats. Brownlee also said the election result could make people think about "First Past The Post again", the electoral system New Zealand used before MMP.

RNZ reported National's party vote in the 2026 election as 37.6%, down 15.4 percentage points since 2023.