Voter apathy continues to worry politicians

While the National Party returned to the Treasury benches with a record majority of 61 seats (which would change in the final declaration of results), the low voter turnout continues to be a source of worry for politicians in general and those from Labour Party and other minor players in particular.

National polled 48.6% of the votes cast, prompting some critics to say that “less than 50% of New Zealanders voted for the Party.”

It is however indubitable that National Leader John Key had an exceptionally high preference rating (more than 60%) as the Prime Minister, again, unprecedented in the political history of the country.

Labour pales

As mentioned in our lead story (Page 1), Labour courted disaster at the polls, with only 32 seats, 25 of which came from electorates. The Party’s share was a dismal 24.69%, stated to be the lowest in its entire history spanning nine decades.

The results announced on September 20 were preliminary, based on 2,112,522 votes counted on election night.

Special declaration votes estimated at 293,130 (12.2% of total votes), including 38,500 votes are yet to be counted. The final result therefore could change the fortunes of some parties but National is a commanding position to govern on its own.

Poor turnout

According to the Electoral Commission, Voter turnout for the General Election this year was about 77.04% of those enrolled as at 5 pm on Friday, September 19. This compares with a final 74.21% turnout of those enrolled in 2011.

A summary of all party votes, electorate votes and advance votes is available on www.electionresults.govt.nz. The website also shows the distribution of seats by party as calculated by the St Lague formula based on the preliminary results.

Preliminary results by voting place for each electorate will also be available on the site.

Official Results

The Official Results process began on September 21 and is expected to be completed in 14 days. All votes counted on election night will be recounted. Special declaration votes will be processed and counted. The target to release the Official Results of the General Election is 2 pm on Saturday October 4, 2014.

Following are the Preliminary Results