Election results: Top National MPs may be out of Parliament
Preliminary election results in New Zealand suggest that several high-ranking National Party list-only candidates may fail to secure seats in Parliament. The party's lower-than-expected vote share has triggered concerns about their ability to form a government.
Why it matters
The potential exclusion of senior political figures and the uncertainty of government formation reflect the volatility of the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) voting system.
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Several sitting National MPs will be out of Parliament based on preliminary results.
Nicola Willis, Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith and Gerry Brownlee are all list-only candidates, and with National tipped to win more than 40 electorate seats, that means no candidates who are list-only would return to Parliament.
They were all placed high on the party list to give them the best shot of returning to Parliament, but the party vote in preliminary counts has dropped dramatically from the 2023 result of 38 percent to under 30 percent, meaning the list candidates may entirely miss out.
Goldsmith looks set to lose the race for the Epsom electorate to incumbent MP and ACT Party leader David Seymour.
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