Explainer: With about two weeks until we decide who the next government will be, New Zealanders still have questions.
As the election enters the home stretch and early voting is about to begin, we take a look at the most frequent questions being asked.
After a dive into some analytics, we found 10 of the most common NZ election questions being asked out there in cyberspace on Google, Copilot and ChatGPT – and the answers.
When is Election Day?
Saturday, 7 November… coming your way before you know it.
What is an election?
There are no stupid questions here.
An election is how we choose our government, and we’ll be deciding if the current National-led coalition will get a second term or if the opposition led by Labour will form the next government.
We’ll elect 120 members of Parliament (and possibly more, if you start getting into overhangs, which are a whole thing you can read about here).
How can I enrol?
It’s easy and it’s free, and if you haven’t done it yet, time is running out.
In case you missed it, the rules this year have changed and there will be NO enrolling in the early voting period or on election day.
That means, if you haven’t enrolled by midnight on Sunday, 25 October, you’re out of luck.
How to enrol to vote: Visit the Electoral Commission website and put in your details.
“This weekend, we’ll be at events around the country to help people enrol or check their details. You can also drop off an enrolment form at one of our hubs. Locations and hours are available on vote.nz,” Chief Electoral Officer Karl Le Quesne told RNZ.
Youth enrolment rates for those aged 18-24 are particularly bad this year, so if you’re in that demographic and on the fence, you’re almost out of time before Sunday night’s deadline.
Early voting begins on Monday.
Samuel Rillstone/RNZ
When does voting start?
Early voting kicks off on Monday, Labour Day, and 207 locations will be open on the public holiday itself.
You can find your local voting place details here. You can also call the Electoral Commission on 0800 36 76 56 to find a polling place.
Votes will be taken at a total of 2638 locations during the voting period.
Early voting then continues right until election day, Saturday, 7 November, when places will be open from 9am to 7pm.
Pool / STUFF LTD
How does MMP work?
‘Mixed Member Proportional’ is New Zealand’s system that allows you to vote for both local electorate candidates and also whatever party you support.
Read RNZ’s full explainer here on just how MMP works and what it means for how our election results will be determined.
What are the main parties’ policies and how do they differ?
There have been a flood of announcements by all the parties in the last several weeks and it’s impossible to keep up.
If you want to know the positions on cost of living, climate change, health, AI or a heap of other topics, we’d suggest a good place to start is RNZ’s handy-dandy policy guide, which gathers up information the parties have announced.
You can also find more about party positions on their official websites.
Each local electorate has different candidates.
RNZ / Nik Dirga
Who are my candidates?
First, you need to know what electorate you’re in. If you’re not sure, you can check that through the Electoral Commission website.
Once you know your electorate, you can then find out who the candidates are for both general and Māori electorates through the government’s website.
Who should I vote for?
Look, we can’t make these decisions for you, but a good place to start gathering information is a nonpartisan websites like Policy.nz to see what your local electorate candidates are saying about themselves. You can look up the candidate info for every electorate there.
And for broader party policies, RNZ’s guide as linked above and the individual party websites are good places to go as well.
How to vote in the NZ election from overseas?
Overseas voting began this week and will end at 7pm on election day. Overseas voters who are enrolled can download their voting papers from the Electoral Commission website, fill them out and then upload them.
There are also overseas voting places available – check here to find out if there’s one near you.
Labour party leader Chris Hipkins and National party leader Christopher Luxon are battling for votes, but their party votes are declining in polls.
Who is most likely to win?
It’s really too close to call. It’s been a tight race, but polls generally suggest National and Labour’s support is cratering, while parties like the Greens and NZ First are surging, and Opportunity remains the wild card.
At this point, it’s pretty hard to predict who could lead the next government.
RNZ-Reid Research’s most recent polling, released 6 October, had National at 25.9 percent support and Labour at 30.8 percent, with the Greens at 14.8 percent, New Zealand First at 10.6 percent, ACT at 9 percent and hopeful newcomers to Parliament – Opportunity – at 5.5 percent, while Te Pāti Māori sits at 2 percent in the party vote.
Other polling has had similar results, with National and Labour practically tied, when you start factoring in the margin of error. The New Zealand Herald’s most recent average of polls showed a near-tie between the two major parties.
If National fails to lead a government, it’ll be the first one-term National government in New Zealand history, but if Chris Hipkins brings Labour back to lead a government, he’ll be the first prime minister with nonconsecutive terms, since Sir Keith Holyoake was held office in 1957 and then again from 1960-72.
