Paula Bennett loses Waitakere seat

Cabinet minister Paula Bennett has lost her Waitakere electorate seat. Photo / Steven McNicholl
Cabinet minister Paula Bennett has lost her Waitakere electorate seat. Photo / Steven McNicholl
Cabinet minister Paula Bennett has lost her Waitakere seat by 11 votes to Labour's Carmel Sepuloni after official election results were released today.

National lost one list MP, bringing their total to 59, while the Green Party gained one, bringing their total to 14.

Labour's Brendon Burns lost his Christchurch Central seat after an election night dead heat was broken by a 45 vote majority to National's Nicky Wagner.

He will not return to Parliament as a list MP, while Ms Sepuloni's win means Labour list MP Raymond Huo has also dropped out of Parliament.

National's Aaron Gilmore lost his list seat, while the Greens gained Mojo Mathers - New Zealand's first profoundly deaf MP.

The total number of MPs remains at 121.

The gains and losses in the share of the party vote came after 263,469 special votes were taken into account.

National got 47.31 per cent of the party vote, down from 47.99 per cent on election night, while Labour got 27.48 per cent, up from 27.13 per cent on the night.

The Greens got 11.06 per cent, up from 10.62 per cent on the night, making for their best-ever result.

It is likely candidates will call for judicial recounts in the closely-won Waitakere and Christchurch Central seats.

They must apply to district courts by Wednesday, with the results of a recount due by the end of next week.

In the election night referendum, 57.77 per cent of voters chose to keep the MMP electoral system, while 42.23 per cent voted for change.

Voter turnout was 74.21 per cent, down from 79.46 per cent at the 2008 election.
Special votes accounted for 11.6 per cent of the total.

 

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