The minor parties are celebrating as they gear up to welcome record numbers of MPs next Parliamentary term.
The official election results were released on Friday afternoon, setting in stone new records for some of the smaller parties as voters strayed from Labour and National.
The results meant the Green Party gained one more seat from election night, welcoming a total of 15 MPs next Parliamentary term.
"With a larger share of the vote and more MPs than we’ve had before, Green Party will lead the ongoing fight to eliminate poverty, honour Te Tiriti, protect nature, and build a climate-resilient future for our mokopuna," Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson said.
Co-leader James Shaw added the party had "defied history".
"We are the only support party in the history of MMP to have grown our vote during a term in Government - and we have done it twice now. Winning three electorates is another major shift, in the same way that moving from being a party of opposition to a party of government was," Shaw said.
Meanwhile, ACT said it is proud to have achieved its greatest-ever election result.
The party has won 11 seats, the same result as election night saw, and will likely enter government in a three-way collation with National and NZ First.
"Thank you to those who have supported us, we now have a record 11 ACT MPs in Parliament, and for the first time ACT holds two electorate seats with Brooke van Velden’s victory in Tamaki and my re-election in Epsom," ACT leader David Seymour said.
"With the results now final, we can continue our work to form a stable and united government to address the many challenges New Zealand faces."
Te Pāti Māori is also celebrating its most successful election result ever after it picked up two more seats once the special votes were counted. The party will have six members in Parliament.
Co-leader Rawiri Waititi said winning six of the seven Māori electorates is a huge endorsement from tangata whenua for its unapologetic and liberated voice.
The Electoral Commission on Friday afternoon revealed the official results for the 2023 general election. This included 603,257 special votes, of which 78,030 were overseas votes.
These results put the National Party on 48 seats compared with 50 on election night. Labour remained at 34 seats and NZ First at eight seats.
Final results (preliminary results in brackets)
- National: 38.06 percent / 48 seats (38.95 percent / 50)
- Labour: 26.91 percent / 34 seats (26.90 percent / 34)
- Greens: 11.60 percent / 15 seats (10.77 percent / 14)
- ACT: 8.64 percent / 11 seats (8.98 percent / 11 seats)
- New Zealand First: 6.08 percent / 8 seats (6.46 percent / 8 seats)
- Te Pāti Māori: 3.08 percent / 6 seats (2.61 percent / 4 seats)
