About 400,000 special votes still to count after 2026 election preliminary results

About 400,000 special votes, the ballots counted after the initial tally, were still to be counted after the preliminary results of the 2026 New Zealand general election. RNZ reported that if the special votes shift as they did in 2023, the Greens would gain a seat and New Zealand First would lose one.

The Opportunity Party was 0.26 percent away from winning an extra seat in the preliminary count.

National and Labour together received their lowest combined vote in the MMP era, the period since New Zealand adopted its mixed-member proportional voting system. The combined figure was 3.5 percentage points below the previous lowest, which was recorded in 1996. Christopher Luxon's National Party received 29 percent of the vote. In 1996, Jim Bolger's National Party received 33.9 percent and formed a coalition with New Zealand First.

In Auckland, Labour won eight of the city's 22 electorate seats, the local constituency seats that sit alongside the party list. That was up from six in 2023 but down from 12 in 2020. National held the Maungakiekie and Takanini electorates.

The Greens delivered their second record party vote in a row. In Nelson and Wairarapa, the Green candidate vote was larger than the gap between National, which finished first, and Labour, which finished second.

New Zealand First achieved its best result since 2002. Its leader, Winston Peters, told voters in Hutt South to give their electorate vote to Chris Bishop.

ACT achieved its third record election result in a row.