Labour's Waitaki candidate David Parker said it was always going to be an impossible task to win the electorate vote.
Waitaki, with its current boundaries, was a safe National seat.
At 9.10pm, Mr Parker announced to about 25 Labour Party faithful gathered in Oamaru that he was going to call National's Jacqui Dean to concede.
Labour had run a deliberate party vote focused campaign rather than a personal vote campaign in Waitaki and he thanked campaign supporters for a "magnificent job" done.
It was not surprising there was a mood for change. It was very rare for a party to win more than three consecutive terms, he said.
