National's Sam Uffindell has been voted the new MP for Tauranga.
With all of the vote counted, the National candidate has a lead more than double of Labour's Jan Tinetti. Both Tinetti and ACT's Cameron Luxton (in third) have conceded.
Booths closed at 7pm and the Electoral Commission progressively released results throughout Saturday night.
A media release with preliminary results will be sent out by the end of the night, with official results published on July 1.
What you need to know:
- National's Sam Uffindell will be the new MP for Tauranga
- With all of the vote counted, Uffindell has received more than double the number of votes than Labour's Jan Tinetti
- Both Tinetti and ACT's Cameron Luxton have conceded
- Voting was down on the 2020 general election, though this is fairly usual for by-elections
Newshub's live updates have finished.
10pm - The Electoral Commission has released the preliminary results.
It says about 1500 special declaration votes are still to be counted, including 54 overseas votes and 1446 special votes in the electorate.
"The total estimated votes (those counted on election night plus estimated special votes to be counted) are 20,903.
"Voter turnout for the 2022 Tauranga by-election is estimated to be 40.6% of the 51,510 enrolled prior to election day.
"That compares with 44% turnout at the Northcote by-election in 2018, 30% at the Mt Albert by-election in 2017 and 38% at the Mt Roskill by-election in 2016.
"An estimated 73% of votes were cast in advance, excluding special votes."
Official results are expected on July 1.
9:25pm - National leader Christopher Luxon says Sam Uffindell's election is "unequivocal".
"This strong result reflects the tremendous hard work of Sam and our team," Luxon says. "It also shows that the National Party is back in business."
"New Zealanders are fed up with a Labour Government that cannot get things done."
He confirmed that if National is elected next year it will "get started on the Takitimu Northern Link – a crucial roading project that was cancelled by the Labour Government in one of its first acts in office".
"I know Sam will be a great advocate for the people of Tauranga and I look forward to welcoming him to Parliament and our Caucus team."
9:10pm - In a statement, ACT leader David Seymour said Cameron Luxton getting 10 percent of the vote in Tauranga "shows real change is coming to New Zealand".
"ACT has the talent and the ideas to run a great campaign. Our policies address New Zealanders concerns, like the cost of living, crime and the loss of our democracy," Seymour said.
Luxton congratulated National's Sam Uffindell on his victory.
"But most of all I would like to thank the people of Tauranga for their support. It's been great getting out and listening to your concerns and coming up with ideas to address them.
"I will be back at the next election and will keep working with ACT to address the concerns of this region."
9:05pm - Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has congratulated National's Sam Uffindell on his victory.
"Congratulations to Sam Uffindell on his win tonight. I also want to acknowledge Jan Tinetti, who has returned one of Labour’s better results in Tauranga in recent elections," Ardern said.
"Jan is a huge advocate for the community she lives in, and has campaigned on the work we’ve been doing as a government to support families through the current global financial challenges, as well as our plan for economic recovery as our borders reopen and tourism resumes.
"Jan has proven why she’s such a valuable part of our team, and why in the recent reshuffle her responsibilities in education have grown."
9pm - The Electoral Commission is reporting 100 percent of the vote has been counted - 19,403 votes.
8:55pm - National leader Christopher Luxon is speaking to party faithful as it appears candidate Sam Uffindell has been elected Tauranga's newest MP.
"It's going to be so good to be in Government next year with this man Sam Uffindell."
Uffindell says he got on "really well" with the Labour and ACT candidates.
"For those who voted for me, and to those who didn't vote for me, I'm here for you," he says.
8:50pm - With 95 percent of the vote counted, National's Sam Uffindell will become the new MP for Tauranga. Of the 18,305 votes counted, he has received 10,346. Labour's Jan Tinetti has received 4667, while ACT's Cameron Luxton got 1877.
8:45pm - Labour's Jan Tinetti has conceded to National's Sam Uffindell in a phone call.
8:40pm - The Electoral Commission has confirmed to Newshub it "became aware" earlier on Saturday of posts on Labour candidate Jan Tinetti's Facebook page encouraging people to vote.
A spokesperson says it contacted the Labour Party and the "posts were taken down".
8:35pm - Tinetti has told media she's happy with how her campaign has gone. Labour hasn't won Tauranga since 1935, so it wasn't expected Tinetti would take the seat on Saturday.
National Party leader Christopher Luxon has arrived at his party's Tauranga headquarters to celebrate Uffindell likely becoming the newest MP.
8:25pm - We are quickly getting through the votes, with now 82.5 percent counted. The Electoral Commission had been aiming for 50 percent by 9pm.
8:20pm - National's Chris Bishop earlier shared social media posts from Labour's Jan Tinetti purportedly posted on Satuday encouraging people to vote. Campaigning isn't allowed on the election day.
A spokesperson for Tinetti told Newshub: "We became aware of it within an hour of it being up and took it down immediately."
Newshub has contacted the Electoral Commission for comment.
8:15pm - There is now 72.5 percent of the vote in (15,997) and Uffindell has now received more than 9000 votes.
National's Sam Uffindell: 9258
Labour's Jan Tinetti: 3984
ACT's Cameron Luxton: 1595.
8:05pm - There is now 65 percent of the vote counted (15,213 votes) and National's Uffindell continues to lead. He has 8878 votes compared to Tinetti's 3754 and Luxton's 1519.
8pm - It's been an hour since voting booths closed and here's a look at the breakdown with 57.5 percent of the vote counted:
7:45pm - The Electoral Commission is reporting 55 percent of the vote has now been counted (14,269).
The votes for the top three candidates so far:
National's Sam Uffindell: 8442
Labour's Jan Tinetti: 3473
ACT's Cameron Luxton: 1402
7:35pm - With 14,156 votes counted so far, Uffindell has received 59.3 percent of the counted votes. That compares to Bridges' 42.76 percent at the 2020 election, 54.29 percent in 2017, 56.88 percent in 2014, 61.4 percent in 2011, and 56.81 percent in 2008. Still many votes to be counted, however.
7:30pm - ACT's Cameron Luxton has conceded he won't be the new MP for Tauranga.
He spoke to Newshub political reporter Imogen Wells at a packed pub in the city.
"Would be stupid not to," he said, as he trailed the National and Labour candidates.
He will be spending the next few days checking in on his business before getting ready for the 2023 election.
7:20pm - We are now at 52.5 percent of the vote (14,156) and Uffindell continues to lead with 8383 votes, followed by Tinetti with 3442 and Luxton on 1391.
7:15pm - It's only been 15 minutes and the Electoral Commission is reporting 40 percent of votes (13,258) have been counted.
National's Sam Uffindell continues to be in the lead with 7901. He is followed by Labour's Jan Tinetti with 3194 and ACT's Cameron Luxton with 1287.
Here is the full breakdown at this point:
7:10pm - The first results have been released by the Electoral Commission. So far, 6864 votes have been counted (or 15 percent).
The top three candidates currently are:
National's Sam Uffindell - 4150 votes
Labour's Jan Tinetti - 1579 votes
ACT's Cameron Luxton - 678 votes.
7:05pm - The by-election was forced by the resignation of National MP Simon Bridges. He had held the seat since 2008.
At the 2020 election, he received 42.76 percent of the vote compared to Labour's Jan Tinetti's 38.53 percent. That was down on Bridge's 2017 result of 54.29 percent.
7pm - Voting booths are now closing and we should start to receive some early results soon. We will bring those to you as soon as they are released.
6:55pm - Kia ora, good evening, and welcome to Newshub's live updates of the results for the Tauranga by-election.
We will bring you a breakdown of the results for each candidate when they start rolling in from 7pm.
