The final count for the election has been announced. Congratulations to Mojo Mathers becoming NZ's first Deaf member of parliament, as well as Carmel Sepuloni winning back Waitakere off Paula Bennett.
This year's party vote had some serious swings compared to 2008's election:
Party 2008 2011 +/- swing % swing
National 1053398 1058638 +5204 +0.5
Labour 796880 614936 -181944 -24
Greens 157613 247370 +89757 +60
NZ First 95356 147544 +52188 +58
Maori 55980 31982 -23998 -43
Mana - 24168 +24168 -
Act 85496 23889 -61607 -72
UF 20497 13443 -7054 -34
ALCP 9515 11738 +2223 +23
The high tide mark of John Key's National government was a scrawny 5,204 votes more than the 2008 election. Labour lost a quarter of its 2008 support to the Greens, NZ First and the enrolled non-vote. The Maori party lost an almost identical chunk of votes to the Mana party. The Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party is only 1,705 votes behind United Future, which should give the reformers some ammo for public broadcasting allocations next time around.
