Close calls
In 2023, Mount Albert was decided by 18 votes. 5 electorates were decided by fewer than 500, and 12 by fewer than 1,500. Here is every one, from the official count.
Every electorate, closest first
Bar length is the winning margin in votes; colour is the winning candidate’s party. Port Waikato is left out: its election-night contest was cancelled after a candidate died, and the seat was decided at a by-election.
Any electorate
26 votes — 0.06% of those counted, and the 2nd closest of 71
- Won by
- Rachel Boyack (Labour) — 17,541
- Runner-up
- Blair Cameron (National) — 17,515
To change the result: 27 more votes for the runner-up — from people who stayed home, say — or 14 of the winner’s voters switching across.
What a close electorate does — and doesn’t — change
Under MMP, each party’s total number of seats is set by the party vote. If a party wins an electorate, that seat comes out of its share; if it loses one, it gets a list seat instead. So when a big party loses a close electorate, it usually ends up with the same number of MPs — the difference is who represents the place, and whether they live there and answer to it.
There are two exceptions, and they are where electorate votes move Parliament itself. A party under 5% of the party vote that wins a single electorate is let in at its full share — see every time that has happened. And a party that wins more electorates than its share keeps them all, so Parliament grows (an “overhang”, as with Te Pāti Māori in 2023).
Either way, the numbers above make one thing plain: a few dozen people, deciding together, can decide who represents a place.
Source: Electoral Commission, 2023 General Election official results, electorate status and electorate details pages. Margins are the official majorities; percentages are of the votes counted in each electorate.