RNZ identifies 16 sitting MPs likely to leave Parliament

RNZ has identified 16 sitting MPs who are likely to be voted out of Parliament. The same report says Parliament looks likely to grow to 131 MPs.

Among those likely to leave is Nicola Willis, National's deputy leader and finance minister. Willis first entered Parliament in 2018, on National's party list, after Steven Joyce resigned. A party list is the ranked list of candidates a party puts forward, and MPs who enter through it do not need to win an electorate. Willis chose not to stand for an electorate in this election.

Chris Bishop also entered Parliament through National's list, in 2014. He won the Hutt South electorate in 2017, lost it in 2020 and won it back in 2023. On election night he conceded Hutt South to Labour's Ginny Andersen. Bishop said his chances of returning in the final count were extremely unlikely.

Gerry Brownlee is also expected to leave. He became MP for Ilam at the first election held under MMP, the mixed-member proportional voting system, in 1996, and held the seat until 2020. He leaves Parliament as father of the House, the longest continuously serving male MP, and as Speaker, the MP who presides over debates in the House.

In Epsom, Paul Goldsmith won 30.5 percent of the electorate vote on election night. David Seymour won 36.8 percent.