2023 New Zealand general election

MPs not standing for re-election

Tāmati Coffey announced his intention to retire in March 2023 but reversed his decision in July.^[64]

MPs standing for re-election as list-only MPs

Expense limits and broadcasting allocations

Party campaigns

Labour

The Labour Party's campaign chairperson was Minister Megan Woods and campaign manager was Hayden Munro. The party also enlisted the services of advertising company "Together" as a media buyer.^[90]

On 17 May 2023, the Labour Party government attacked National's record on healthcare.^[91] On 27 May, Social Development Minister Carmel Sepuloni launched Labour's first election policy: to keep the superannuation age at 65 years and above.^[92][93] On 28 May, Hipkins announced Labour's second election promise: that it would retain the Apprenticeship Boost scheme.^[94]

On 12 July, Hipkins ruled out introducing a capital gains tax if Labour was re-elected to Government.^[95] On 16 July, Labour launched its election campaign and unveiled its election slogan "In It For You." Hipkins also campaigned on cutting inflation, reducing living costs, public safety, and investing in education, health and housing.^[96]

On 17 July, Labour introduced its youth crime package which included building two "high-needs units" within existing youth justice residences in Auckland and Christchurch, improving safety and security at youth justice residences, focusing on crime prevention measures including family group conferences, and empowering Family Courts to require youth offenders to perform community service including cleaning graffiti and rubbish disposal.^[97] That same week, the Labour Government announced several justice policies including introducing legislation to punish adults convicted of influencing young people to commit crimes, making the publishing of recordings of criminal behaviour on social media an aggravating factor in sentencing, making ram-raiding a criminal offence with a ten-year sentence and allowing 12 and 13-year old ram raiders to be tried in Youth Courts.^[98][99]

On 31 July, the party released its official list of 76 party list candidates.^[100] Several Labour MPs including Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta, Soraya Peke-Mason, and Greg O'Connor also confirmed they would be standing solely as electorate candidates.^[101]

On 13 August, Labour announced that it would remove the goods and service tax (GST) for fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables, and would increase the "Working for Families" programme for families.^[102] Labour's proposed GST policy attracted criticism including economist Brad Olsen, Child Poverty Action Group economist Susan St John, Health Coalition Aotearoa food expert Sally Mackay, Stuff political editor Luke Malpass, Newshub political editor Jenna Lynch, Newsroom journalist Marc Daalder, and The New Zealand Herald business journalist Jenée Tibshraeny.^[103] On 15 August, Labour campaigned on extending paid parental leave from two weeks to four weeks if re-elected,^[104] almost three weeks after Labour voted down National's proposed bill allowing parents to share their leave entitlement.^[105] On 19 August, Labour launched its Māori campaign and released its Māori language manifesto.^[106]

On 2 September, the Labour campaign launch in Auckland was interrupted by protesters from Freedoms New Zealand.^[107] The Labour party announced a policy of free dental care for under 30s, starting in July 2025.^[108] On 6 September, Hipkins announced Labour's five part economic plan and also promised to lead a trade delegation to India within the first 100 days of government if re-elected.^[109][110] On 7 September, Labour announced several law and order policies including adding 300 frontline Police officers, expanding the use of mental health officers, and introducing legislation to make stalking a criminal offence.^[111]

On 12 September, Labour campaigned on rolling out free cervical screening for women aged between 25 and 69 years.^[112] In response to National's campaign pledge to build a third medical school at the University of Waikato, Hipkins announced on 13 September that the Government would invest in training 335 extra doctors by 2027.^[113] On 17 September, Labour released its women's election manifesto and pledged to raise the age for free breast cancer screening, and to develop an endometriosis action plan.^[114]

On 18 September, Labour campaigned on introduced rebates for rooftop solar panels and batteries, and a NZ$20 million community energy fund.^[115] That same day, campaign manager Woods confirmed that Labour would rule out an electoral deal with the Green Party in tight electorate seats.^[116] On 22 September, Hipkins announced that Labour would retain its free lunch school programme if re-elected.^[117] On 23 September, Labour promised to introduce a 10-year multiple-entry "Super Visa" that would allow migrants' relatives to make successive visits of between 6 months and 5 years, and also campaigned on introducing a one-off amnesty programme for overstayers who had been in New Zealand for ten years.^[118] On 24 September, Woods announced that Labour would build 6,000 more state houses if re-elected.^[119]

On 25 September, Labour released its climate manifesto with key policies including a second emissions reduction plan and boosting renewable energy.^[120] On 26 September, Hipkins promised that Labour would invest NZ$1 billion in state pharmaceutical purchaser Pharmac over the next four years.^[121] On 27 September, Labour introduced its fiscal plan, with a focus on reducing government spending and maintaining current income tax settings.^[122] On 30 September, Labour released its Rainbow Manifesto, with key policies including reformed surrogacy laws, a new LGBTQ+ refugee quota, and restrictions on gay men donating blood.^[123]

On 1 October, Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni released the party's full election manifesto, focusing on improving children's education and funding youth training and work programmes.^[124] In early October, Labour confirmed that if re-elected it would extend diplomatic recognition to the State of Palestine by inviting Izzat Salah Abdulhadi, the head of the General Delegation of Palestine to Australia, to present credentials as the Palestinian Ambassador to New Zealand.^[125] Following Hamas attack on Israel, Hipkins paused plans to extend diplomatic recognition to Palestine on 10 October.^[126]

Greens

The Green Party's campaign was led by the Campaign 23 Committee, which was convened by deputy mayor of Nelson Rohan O'Neill-Stevens and party activist Gina Dao-McClay. Chennoah Walford served as campaign director while the party enlisted the services of media buyer and advertisement company "Reason."^[90] On 18 May, the party announced it would campaign on climate change, housing, inequality, tax reform, and the cost of living.^[170] On 20 May, the Greens released their finalised list of 31 candidates, which excluded Elizabeth Kerekere, who left the party to sit as an independent MP until the election whereupon she retired.^[171] Following the success of Chlöe Swarbrick's 2020 Auckland Central campaign, the Green Party ran three additional "two tick" campaigns in this election; Ricardo Menéndez March in Mount Albert, Julie Anne Genter in Rongotai, and Tamatha Paul in Wellington Central.^[172] The Green Party also campaigned for electorate votes in Panmure-Ōtāhuhu, Tāmaki Makaurau,^[173] and Te Tai Tokerau.^[174]

In June 2023, the Greens announced they would be introducing various wealth and taxation proposals including tax cuts for anyone earning below NZ$125,000, a minimum income guarantee of NZ$385 per week, a wealth tax on assets worth above NZ$2 million, a 1.5% trust tax, a 45% top income tax rate, and a corporate tax rate of 33%.^[175]

In early July 2023, the Greens announced their "Pledge to Renters." Key provisions included imposing rent controls on landlords, introducing a rental "warrant of fitness," providing a government underwrite for housing providers, accelerating the public housing building programme, and creating a national register for all landlords and property managers.^[176] On 9 July, the party announced its election manifesto. Key provisions include establishing a new climate change ministry, expanding the criteria for carbon emissions, decriminalising drugs, boosting the refugee intake to 5,000, introducing rent controls, and building 35,000 new public homes.^[177]

On 17 July, the Greens launched their Hoki Whenua Mai policy. Key provisions include introducing legislation to return all confiscated land to the indigenous Māori people, removing a 2008 deadline for Treaty of Waitangi breaches, and establishing a process for privately owned land.^[178] On 23 July, the Greens formally launched their election campaign along with the slogan "The Time Is Now" and a new campaign video.^[179]

On 6 August, the Greens proposed setting up a national dental service to provide free dental health care, which would be funded by a wealth tax.^[180] On 13 August, the Greens announced a Clean Power Payment and Zero Carbon Homes upgrade with the goal of equipping homes with solar panels and replacing fossil fuel appliances like gas heaters.^[181]

On 10 September, the Greens launched its oceans policies, which included creating an independent Ocean Commission and passing a Health Ocean Act.^[182] On 16 September, the Greens co-leader Marama Davidson campaigned on raising workers' minimum annual leave from four to five weeks.^[183] On 19 September, Davidson announced that the Greens would support expanding the free school lunch programme to 365,000 children.^[184]

On 23 September, the Greens campaigned on introducing a full amnesty for all overstayers accompanied with residency pathways.^[118] On 26 September, the Greens pledged to double Best Start payments and extend it to children under three years in order to combat child poverty.^[185] On 1 October, the Greens released a document, entitled "The Future is Up to Us", unveiling its three priorities: income guarantee, affordable and healthy homes, and climate action. The party also released an independent fiscal review to support their plan.^[186]

ACT

The ACT Party's campaign committee chairperson was Nick Wright and campaign chairperson was Stu Wilson. The party also enlisted the services of American pollster Joe Trippi & Associates as its media buyer.^[90] ACT has campaigned against gun control.^[187] Contrary to the Greens, ACT leader David Seymour has said that he believes it's inequitable for a small portion of New Zealand's population to bear a substantial share of the country's tax revenue.^[188] In late April, ACT confirmed that it would be running "two-ticks" campaigns for both Seymour and Deputy Leader Brooke Van Velden in Auckland's Epsom and Tāmaki electorates.^[189]

The party launched its campaign on 4 June 2023, with Seymour announcing a policy to create a new "Ministry of Regulation" to police red tape and introduce a new law to ensure that regulation is underpinned by law-making principles.^[190] On 9 July, ACT vowed to lower the youth justice age back to 17 years. In 2016, the previous National Government had raised the youth justice age to 18 years, with 17 year olds being tried in youth courts for most offences except serious offences such as murder, sexual assault, aggravated robbery, arson, and serious assaults.^[191] On 13 July, ACT released its Oranga Tamariki (Ministry for Children) policy which advocated making the Independent Children's Monitor (ICM) an independent Crown entity, separating social workers' jobs into mentors and Child Protection Officers, and transferring youth justice functions from Oranga Tamariki to the Department of Corrections.^[192]

On 16 July, ACT released their finalised list of 55 candidates, with notable newcomers including former Federated Farmers president Andrew Hoggard and former National MP Parmjeet Parmar.^[193] On 30 July, ACT announced that it would seek to speed up the Employment Relations Authority's (ERA) personal grievance process in order to help small businesses.^[146] On 17 August 2023, Seymour joked about bombing the Ministry for Pacific Peoples during an interview with Newstalk ZB following revelations about wasteful spending by the Ministry earlier in August. During the interview, Seymour claimed "in his fantasy' he would "send a guy like Guy Fawkes" into the Ministry's headquarters and "it'd all be over", apparently implying he would have it blown up.^[194] This was a reference to the Gunpowder Plot, planned in 1605 by English Catholic plotters but foiled at the last minute.^[195] ACT has campaigned for the abolition of the Ministry, alongside the Human Rights Commission and Ministry for Women.^[196] Seymour's remarks were criticised by Deputy Prime Minister Carmel Sepuloni and former National Party minister Alfred Ngaro as inflammatory and insensitive towards Pasifika New Zealanders.^[196][197]

On 20 August, Seymour announced that ACT would set performance benchmarks for public sector organisations, "key performance indicators" for public sector chief executives, and would restore "performance pay" for public sector chief executives.^[198]

On 27 August, ACT pledged to remove Māori wards in local governments.^[199][200] On 3 September, Seymour announced that ACT would reverse the Government's ban on oil and gas exploration, ease the consent process for offshore wind projects, and remove the Te Mana o te Wai framework from the resource consenting process.^[201] On 6 September, Seymour confirmed that ACT's "red tape review" would focus on the early childhood education sector, health services, primary industries, and financial services.^[202]

On 13 September, Seymour unveiled ACT's law and order policies which included reforming the reparations process in favour of victims, imposing tougher sentences for crimes against vulnerable workers, reinstating "three strikes" legislation, and building 500 additional prison beds and 200 youth justice beds.^[203] On 15 September, ACT campaigned on stripping welfare beneficiaries off their benefits if they did not seek treatment for drugs and stress or seek work.^[204] On 17 September, ACT launched its election campaign on a platform of opposing co-governance and introducing legislation setting out the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.^[205] The campaign launch was interrupted by Freedoms NZ candidate Karl Mokoraka. A Newshub cameraman and visual journalist were also allegedly assaulted by an ACT supporter. Seymour condemned the alleged assaults and vowed to support the investigation.^[206][207]

On 20 September, ACT launched its education and early childhood education policies, with a focus on combating bureaucratic "micro-management" and truancy.^[208] Following the pre-election fiscal and economic update, ACT announced on 21 September that it would revise its budget to delay tax cuts and proposed defence spending boosts.^[209] On 22 September, ACT unveiled its senior citizens policy, which included reforming the Retirement Commission, ending the ban on pseudoephedrine, and boosting the health workforce.^[210] On 23 September, ACT promised to introduce a new "Unite Visa" that would allow to visit family in New Zealand for up to five years, with a renewal requirement each year and an annual fee of NZ$3,500 to cover potential health costs.^[118]

On 26 September, ACT announced it would scrap several climate change policies including the Climate Change Response (Zero Carbon) Amendment Act and focus on building infrastructure to cope with climate change.^[211] On 28 September, ACT announced several policies that would make it easier for landlords to evict tenants and terminate tenancies.^[212] On 29 September, ACT announced that it would amend the COVID-19 inquiry's terms of reference to give the public a greater say.^[213] That same day, Seymour suggested that an ACT government would reduce New Zealand's carbon emissions cap to match its trading partners' emissions.^[214] On 30 September, ACT unveiled its small business policy plan which involved abolishing Fair Pay Agreements, not raising the minimum wage for three years, and removing the 2 January public holiday.^[215]

Debates

TVNZ announced their debate schedule on 29 August.^[250] Newshub announced their debate schedule on 7 September.^[251] A debate hosted by The Press between Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon was scheduled for 3 October, but after Hipkins caught COVID-19, Luxon pulled out due to being unable to provide any alternative dates.^[252]

Law and order

According to a Vote Compass survey, 73% of respondents believed that too many offenders avoided prison sentences in New Zealand. According to data released by the Ministry of Justice, there were a total of 8,500 prisoners incarcerated in New Zealand prisons in June 2023; it was the lowest imprisonment rate per 100,000 people in over 20 years. This was part of the Labour Government's policy of reducing the prison population by 30%, which Labour has vowed to scrap if re-elected. While the National and ACT parties have campaigned on reversing the 30% prison reduction target, Te Pāti Māori has advocated abolishing prisons and replacing it with a tikanga-based (Māori customary) system. The Greens have emphasised rehabilitation and restorative justice.^[269]

Vote Compass also found that 76% of respondents supported harsher punishments for youth offenders. While 92% of National and ACT voters supported harsher punishments, 73% of Labour voters agreed while 18% disagreed. The survey concluded that conservative party supporters favoured a more punitive and individualised approach towards crime while liberal party supporters thought that crime was rooted in structural factors including poverty and discrimination.^[269]

Co-governance and the Treaty of Waitangi

Co-governance and the Treaty of Waitangi were polarising issues during the 2023 general election, with The Spinoff comparing campaign discussions around these issues to the "iwi vs Kiwi" debate during the 2005 New Zealand general election. While the incumbent Labour and Green parties were sympathetic to co-governance, they avoided campaigning strongly on the issues due to the controversy that co-governance generated in 2022. Labour has supported the expansion of Māori wards and constituencies in local and regional councils. The opposition National, ACT, and New Zealand First parties have opposed co-governance to varying degrees, despite the former two instituting co-governance arrangements during the Fifth National Government. While National and ACT have opposed the expansion of Māori wards in local government, ACT has accepted other co-governance arrangements such as Auckland's Tūpuna Maunga Authority and the Waikato River Authority. Meanwhile, NZ First has rejected all power-sharing arrangements with Māori including co-governaning indigenous biodiversity.^[270] While the Labour and Green parties have supported the Government's Water Services Reform Programme, National and ACT have campaigned on repealing the programme in its entirety.^[271][270]

In terms of the Treaty of Waitangi and treaty settlements, Labour has supported expanding Te Haetea, the online database for monitoring Treaty settlement commitments. The Green and Māori parties have advocated reforming the Treaty of Waitangi Tribunal and Treaty settlements by reopening historical claims, allowing hapū (sub-tribes) to negotiate claims, boosting Tribunal funding and broadening the Tribunal's scope to include private property. The Māori Party has also sought to include council-owned land in Treaty settlements, make Tribunal recommendations binding, remove fiscal and deadline limits, and to end "full and final settlements" in the Treaty process.^[270]

In terms of constitutional arrangements, Te Paati Māori has proposed several major constitutional changes including the creation of a separate Māori parliament, entrench the Māori electorates, allowing Māori to switch between the general and Māori electoral rolls anytime, and expanding the scope of the Waitangi Tribunal process. The Greens also support entrenching the Māori electorates, implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and its local He Puapua strategy, and creating a citizen's assembly based on Treaty principles. By contrast, ACT and NZ First oppose the entrenchment of both the Declaration on Indigenous Rights and the He Puapua documents.^[270]

In late September 2023, Horizon Research published the results of a survey on how New Zealanders' voting choices were influenced by their views on co-governance, the Treaty of Waitangi, and racial harmony. The Horizon Research study also identified a large gulf between Māori and European/Pākehā voters on the issues of co-governance and honouring the Treaty. On co-governance, 28% of European voters surveyed said that stopping co-governance policies was an important influence on their party vote choice, compared with 17% of Māori respondents. 62% of prospective ACT voters opposed co-governance, compared with 45% of New Zealand First prospective voters and 40% of prospective National voters. Regarding the Treaty, 46% of Māori respondents regarded honouring the Treaty as an important influence on their party vote, compared with 20% of European respondents. The survey found that 31% of voters regarded racial harmony as important; with 34% of Māori and 30% of Europeans regarding racial harmony as important.^[272]

Disinformation and misinformation

Several researchers including Victoria University of Wellington political scientist Lara Greaves, psychologist and artificial intelligence commentator Paul Duignan, and University of Auckland research associate Sarah Bickerton expressed concern that artificial intelligence could be used to spread misinformation and disinformation during the lead-up to the 2023 general election.^[273] Similarly, Sanjana Hattotuwa of The Disinformation Project, Joshua Ferrer, and InternetNZ expressed concerns about microtargeting being used as a tool for spreading disinformation and facilitating foreign election interference online. By contrast, Victoria University political scientist Jack Vowles opposed calls to ban microtargeting and argued that microtargeting could be used for positive purposes such as promoting educational policies among teachers.^[274]

In early August 2023, the Electoral Commission confirmed it was considering an investigation of controversial Stop Co-Governance organiser Julian Batchelor's pamphlets for allegedly breaching electoral advertising laws. Batchelor's pamphlets included a section telling people not to vote for parties which supported co-governance. Electoral law expert Graeme Edgeler opined that this section constituted an electoral advertisement. According to 1News, the Electoral Commission had warned Batchelor that electoral adverts must have an official promoter statement, including a name and address. In response, Batchelor claimed that the infringement was "extremely minor" and would be hard to prove in court.^[275]

In mid August, Stuff reported that several NZ First candidates including property and commercial lawyer Kirsten Murfitt, Auckland consultant Janina Massee, Matamata-Piako district councillor Caleb Ansell, and Kevin Stone had espoused COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy and "plandemic" conspiracy theories, New World Order conspiracy theories, climate skepticism, QAnon, and homophobia. In response, party leader Winston Peters claimed that NZ First's candidate list was provisional and defended the party's candidate selection process.^[276]

On 21 August, ACT candidate Elaine Naidu Franz resigned after 1News uncovered a LinkedIn post likening COVID-19 vaccine mandates to concentration camps. ACT leader David Seymour described her comments as "unacceptable" and welcomed her decision to resign as an ACT candidate. A second ACT candidate Darren Gilchrist of Waikato apologised for a Telegram post claiming that COVID-19 vaccines contributed to a surge in drowning in 2021.^[277] A third ACT candidate Anto Coates also resigned after describing COVID-19 as a mass hysteria and writing a parody song suggesting that former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern had thought about sending people to gulags. Seymour defended ACT's candidate vetting process while Prime Minister Chris Hipkins and Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer accused the party of courting conspiracy theorists and being secretive respectively.^[278]

On 7 September, the Labour Party removed a social media attack advertisement which falsely claimed that the National Party would end free public transport for disabled people. In truth, disabled "Total Mobility" users have never been eligible for free public transport or the half-price public transport fees announced in the 2023 New Zealand budget in mid-May 2023.^[279]

On 18 September, Radio New Zealand reported that National's Hamilton East candidate Ryan Hamilton, a serving Hamilton City Councillor, had for two decades espoused anti-fluoridation and vaccine hesitancy views at odds with the National Party's positions on fluoridation and vaccination. Hamilton had also posted social media posts opposing COVID-19 vaccine mandates and alleging that the number of COVID-19 deaths had been inflated. In response to media coverage, National claimed that Hamilton had since changed his views on fluoridation.^[280]

On 16 November, Victoria University of Wellington political scientist Mona Krewel's "New Zealand Social Media Study" found that misinformation and disinformation were not problematic in election campaigning during the 2023 general election. The study was based on an analysis of over 4,000 Facebook posts from political parties and their leaders during the five week period leading to 14 October. The Social Media Study found that fake news posts remained below 3% throughout the election campaign, with a weekly average of 2.6% over that five week period. Krewel's study also observed that various parties and politicians promoted "half truths" or "small lies" throughout the campaign. One notable example was the National Party claiming that the Ministry for Pacific Peoples had hosted breakfasts to promote Labour MPs. In truth the Ministry had held these breakfasts to explain the 2023 New Zealand budget to constituents.^[281]

Polarisation and vandalism

The 2023 electoral campaign has been noted for its increased divisiveness, with a far more tense and discordant campaign than 2020.^[282][283] Some political commentators, such as Henry Cooke, have written about heightened political polarisation.^[284]

During the second of the three leaders' debates, as moderated by Paddy Gower on Three, Chris Hipkins read out a quote by Rob Ballantyne, the New Zealand First candidate for Rangitata,^[285] that he described as explicitly racist. The quote said to Māori: "Cry if you want to, we don't care. You pushed it too far. We are the party with the cultural mandate and courage to cut out your disease and bury it permanently."^[286] Hipkins then asked Christopher Luxon why he was willing to work with New Zealand First. Luxon responded by agreeing that the quote was racist, but said that he was "going to make the call [to Winston Peters on election night] if it means stopping you, Te Pati Māori and the Greens from coming to power."^[286] Hipkins later committed to calling out racism and defending Te Tiriti, while accusing ACT and NZ First of race-baiting.^[287] David Seymour condemned the statement while Ballantyne later claimed to journalist Tova O'Brien that he was talking about "elite" Māori.^[286][288]

The widespread defacement of electoral billboards has caused concern. A billboard featuring Priyanca Radhakrishnan, who is defending Maungakiekie for Labour, was vandalised with misogynistic language.^[289] Several billboards featuring Māori politicians have been defaced with racial slurs, including coon^[290] and on one occasion nigger,^[291] and the word "Māori" repeatedly cut out.^[292] National Party billboards were also vandalised but not in overtly racist or misogynistic ways.^[289]

On 29 September 17 Māori leaders including David Letele signed an open letter to National Party leader Christopher Luxon calling on him to "condemn the racist comments made by NZ First, condemn the race-baiting policies of the ACT Party, and commit himself to representing all of us, including Māori." In response, Luxon accused Labour leader Hipkins of creating a campaign built on fear and negativity. NZ First leader Winston Peters accused the letter writers of racism and reiterated his claims that co-governance was Apartheid. ACT leader David Seymour accused the signatories of making false accusations of racism while ignoring the alleged racism of the Māori Party. In response to Seymour's remarks, Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer accused Seymour of suffering from White Saviourism and of taking no responsibility for his alleged ignorance. In turn, Hipkins accused Luxon of exploiting race since he became National Party leader.^[293]

On 5 October, while interviewing Greens co-leader James Shaw, journalist Tova O'Brien revealed that the Green candidate for Maungakiekie, Sapna Samant, had a history of racist tweets. These included "White people are stupid" and "can be fooled easily" and also called Labour Minister Priyanca Radhakrishnan "****ing useless [sic]" and an "incompetent" minister. Shaw was unaware of this and when asked if Samant was a good fit for the Green Party, Shaw said, from "what you're saying, it doesn't sound like it". She had also tweeted "Defund the police" which Shaw stated was not Green Party policy.^[294]

Political violence and intimidation

There have also been several acts of political violence and intimidation. On 26 September, Angela Roberts, a list MP and the Labour Party candidate for Taranaki-King Country, was physically assaulted at a town hall meeting. At the Rotary Club in Inglewood, Taranaki, a man who was confronting Roberts "grabbed [her] shoulders" and shook her violently "in order to emphasise the point he was making" before slapping her across the face. Chris Hipkins spoke to the media and condemned the incident. He also addressed Labour MPs and candidates directly, saying that if they were "criticised for not going to that meeting because you don't feel safe going there, I will absolutely defend you doing that."^[295] Roberts later said to RNZ "It feels like, incrementally, there is a growing acceptance of aggression in politics and our democratic processes. This must change." She thanked National MP Barbara Kuriger for reaching out to her after the incident.^[296]

On 29 September, Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke, Te Pāti Māori's candidate for Hauraki-Waikato allegedly suffered a home invasion, in which her house was vandalised and a threatening letter was left behind. Te Pāti Māori put out a statement saying that the "premeditated and targeted attack" was "the latest of three incidents to take place at Hana's home just this week... to our knowledge, this is the first time in our history that a politician's home and personal property has been invaded to this extent." The party blamed "right-wing politicians [race-baiting] and [fearmongering] for votes" for emboldening the perpetrators.^[297][298]

On 5 October, an elderly Pākehā/European New Zealander man alleged to be a well-known National Party campaigner was issued a trespass notice by police for allegedly intimidating Maipi-Clarke.^[299] Police subsequently confirmed that they were investigating five reports about behaviour against Maipi-Clarke but did not believe that the incidents were racially motivated or coordinated. Detective Inspector Darrell Harpur confirmed that a person had been trespassed from Maipi-Clarke's Huntly home. While Police confirmed the theft of an election hoarding from Maipi-Clark's home, they clarified that the incident had been incorrectly reported as a ram raid rather than a theft. Police also confirmed they were investigating a related burglary and the threatening letter but were unable to establish any criminality. Te Pāti Māori president John Tamihere contested the Police statement and confirmed it would be filing a civil lawsuit against the elderly National Party campaigner following the 2023 election. In response to media coverage, the National Party defended the elderly campaigner and rejected assertions he had trespassed on Maipi-Clarke's property. National stated that the elderly Pakeha man had only wished to congratulate Maipi-Clarke for participating at a "meet the candidate event" but had left since Maipi-Clark was not at home.^[300]

On 2 October, National's campaign chair Chris Bishop reported that several National Party candidates and volunteers had encountered several alleged incidents of intimidation, death threats, assaults including a candidate being forced to move houses, a dog attack, and at least one burglary. Bishop alleged that "malevolent actors" were attempting to disrupt the 2023 election and also claimed that the Mongrel Mob's endorsement of the Labour Party had placed National Party candidates and supporters at risk.^[301] In one incident, National's Auckland Central candidate Mahesh Muralidhar, his partner, and several volunteers were illegally filmed by a member of the Head Hunters Motorcycle Club who uploaded the video on social media, where it attracted vitriol and abusive language from gang members including a senior Headhunter.^[302][301] The National and ACT parties condemned threats and violence against political candidates as "unacceptable" and "disgraceful." National blamed the intimidation and violence on gang members while ACT urged people to report these incidents to the Police.^[303]

Protests and disruptions

Members of the Freedoms New Zealand disrupted Labour leader Chris Hipkins' campaign visit to the Ōtara Markets on 20 August, a National Party press conference featuring leader Christopher Luxon and transport spokesperson Simeon Brown on 28 August, and the Labour Party's campaign launch on 2 September.^{[304][305][306]} In early September 2023, The Disinformation Project's director Kate Hannah claimed that the disruptive activities of "fringe" parties were instigated by lobby groups. She also expressed concern that these disruptive activities would discourage public participation in the democratic process.^[307]

Social media

On 8 September, The New Zealand Herald reported that several political parties including the National, Green, ACT, NZ First, and Labour parties were using the video-sharing platform TikTok to reach younger voters in the 18–24 age group, which accounted for 418,831 eligible voters. National launched its TikTok account in November 2022 with Labour following suit in September 2023. By September 2023, National had gained 54,000 TikTok followers, the Greens 13,400 followers, ACT 12,200 followers, and Labour 1,400 followers. Popular election-related TikTok content included interviews featuring ACT leader David Seymour and NZ First candidate Shane Jones' rendition of the song "Don't Stop Believing." During the lead-up to the election, TikTok added a pop-up directing New Zealand viewers searching for election-related content to the Electoral Commission's website.^[308]

On 20 October, The Spinoff reported that several political parties had spent large sums on online advertisements on Meta Platforms' Ad Library (which appears on Facebook and Instagram) and Google. The highest spender was the ACT Party, which spent NZ$334,900 on Meta advertising and NZ$444,000 on Google advertising. The second highest spender was Labour, which spent NZ$250,400 on Meta advertising and NZ$66,000 on Google advertising. The third highest spender was National, which spent NZ$215,500 on Meta advertising and NZ$63,000 on Google advertising. Other parties advertising on Meta's platforms included Green Party (NZ$143,300), Te Pāti Māori (NZ$44,700), TOP (NZ$31,600), and NZ First (NZ$17,900). NZ First also spent NZ$44,400 on Google advertisements.^[309]

On 21 October, Radio New Zealand estimated that National, Labour, ACT, the Greens, NZ First and Te Pāti Māori spent between NZ$1.5 and NZ$2.3 million on Meta and Google platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Google and YouTube in the three month period leading up to the 2023 election. The two major parties Labour and National focused on the economy. Labour also spent heavily on health advertising including on promoting its policy of free dental care for people under the age of 30 years. While National and ACT also spent heavily on crime-related advertising, the Greens were the only party to spend on climate change-related advertisements. During the final stages of the campaign, Labour published several attack advertisements targeting National leader Christopher Luxon. While most parties did not target gender segments, 81% of Green ads were viewed by women while 63% of ACT ads were viewed by men. NZ First targeted the over 65 age demographic.^[310]

Ethnic engagement and representation

In mid September 2023, Ngaire Reid, the managing director of Reid Research, stated that Chinese New Zealanders along with Māori and Pasifika New Zealanders were often reluctant to participate in opinion polls, causing these ethnic communities to be underrepresented in opinion polling. Market research firm Trace Research director Andrew Zhu stated that opinion polls could help the Chinese community to feel more engaged in the political process. On 21 September, Trace Research published the results of a survey which found that 70.9% of ethnic Chinese voters supported the National Party, 13.4% supported ACT, 12.5% supported Labour, and 1.4% supported the Greens. Support for right-wing parties within the Chinese community rose in 2023 while support for Labour declined compared with the 2020 general election. Trace Research found that ethnic Chinese voters were most concerned with rising living costs, law and order, economic growth, racial equality and healthcare.^[311]

In early October, Radio New Zealand reported that several young Asian voters were concerned that Asian communities were not being heard in the 2023 election and that there was a lack of "meaningful" engagement with political parties. Key issues among Asian voters included health, employment, the economy, and income equality.^[312]

On 4 October, Radio New Zealand reported that a record number of Indian New Zealanders were standing as candidates in the 2023 general election across the political spectrum. National had five ethnic Indian candidates, ACT four, Labour two, and the Greens two. Notable ethnic Indian candidates included ACT's Pakuranga candidate Parmjeet Parmar, National's Auckland Central candidate Mahesh Muralidhar, and Labour Maungakiekie MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan.^[313]

Seat projections

The use of mixed-member proportional representation allows ready conversion of a party's support into a party vote percentage and therefore a number of seats in Parliament. Projections generally assume no material change to the electorate seats held by each party (ACT retains Epsom, Greens retain Auckland Central, Māori retains Waiariki, etc.). Parties that do not hold an electorate seat and poll below 5% are assumed to win zero seats.

When determining the scenarios for the overall result, the minimum parties necessary to form majority governments are listed (provided parties have indicated openness to working together). Actual governments formed may include other parties beyond the minimum required for a majority; this happened after the 2014 election, when National only needed one seat from another party to reach a 61-seat majority, but instead chose to form a 64-seat government with Māori, ACT and United Future.^[314]

On 19 November 2022, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters ruled out a coalition with Labour, claiming "No one gets to lie to me twice".^[315] In April 2023, National leader Christopher Luxon commented that it would be "highly unlikely" that National would form a government with Te Pāti Māori or the Greens; however, a spokesperson later clarified Luxon had not "intended to fully rule out working" with either party. At the time, Te Pāti Māori was largely seen as the kingmaker in the upcoming election.^[316] Furthermore, Te Pāti Māori may not be prepared to support a National-led government that includes the ACT Party, as Te Pāti Māori has repeatedly accused the ACT Party of race baiting over co-governance and its calls for a referendum on the Treaty of Waitangi.^[317] On 10 May, Luxon officially ruled out forming a coalition with Te Pāti Māori.^[318] On 27 August, Labour leader Chris Hipkins ruled out New Zealand First as a possible coalition partner.^[319]

Detailed results

More information Party, Party vote ...

Summary of the 14 October 2023 election for the House of Representatives^[337]

Party		Party vote				Electorate vote sum				Total seats	+/-
		Votes	Of total (%)	Change (pp)	Seats	Votes	Of total (%)	Change (pp)	Seats
	National	1,085,851	38.08	12.51	5	1,192,251	43.47	9.34	43	48	16
	Labour	767,540	26.92	23.09	17	855,963	31.21	16.86	17	34	31
	Green	330,907	11.61	3.75	12	226,575	8.26	2.52	3	15	5
	ACT	246,473	8.64	1.06	9	149,507	5.45	1.99	2	11	1
	NZ First	173,553	6.09	3.49	8	76,676	2.80	1.73	0	8	8
	Te Pāti Māori	87,844	3.08	1.92	0	106,584	3.89	1.73	6	6	4
	Opportunities (TOP)	63,344	2.22	0.72	0	27,975	1.02	0.13	0	0
	NZ Loyal	34,478	1.21	new	0	32,240	1.18	new	0	0	new
	NewZeal[e]	16,126	0.57	0.29	0	3,585	0.13	0.11	0	0
	Legalise Cannabis	13,025	0.46	0.01	0	12,566	0.46	0.17	0	0
	Freedoms NZ	9,586	0.34	0.09	0				0	0
	DemocracyNZ	6,786	0.24	new	0	12,060	0.44	new	0	0	new
	Animal Justice	5,018	0.18	new	0	5,829	0.21	new	0	0	new
	New Conservative	4,532	0.16	1.31	0	3,167	0.12	1.64	0	0
	Women's Rights	2,513	0.09	new	0	0	0.00	new	0	0	new
	Leighton Baker Party	2,105	0.07	new	0	2,623	0.10	new	0	0	new
	New Nation	1,530	0.05	new	0	433	0.02	new	0	0	new
	Unregistered parties
	Independent					34,277	1.25	0.87
Valid votes		2,851,211				2,742,677
Informal votes		16,267				40,353
Disallowed votes[338]		16,633				59,043
Below electoral threshold
Total		2,884,111	100.00		51	2,842,073	100.00		71	122
Eligible voters and turnout		3,688,292	78.20	4.04		3,688,292	77.06	5.18

Close

Electorate results

The table below shows the results of the electorate vote in the 2023 general election:

Key

List results

The following list candidates were elected:

MPs who lost their seats

Andrew Little was elected as a Labour Party list MP but resigned, effective from 5 December, after Labour lost the election. Unsuccessful Ikaroa-Rāwhiti candidate Meka Whaitiri had held office as an independent (previously Labour Party) but contested the election for Te Pāti Māori.

New MPs

Based on preliminary results, 40 candidates who had never been in parliament before were returned. Of those, 21 were from National,^[340] 2 from Labour,^[340] 7 from the Greens,^[341] 4 from ACT,^[341] 2 from Te Pāti Māori,^[342] and 4 from NZ First.^[343] Based on preliminary results, parliament had 122 representatives, i.e. nearly one-third of the members were to be newcomers.^[344]

When the final results were released on 3 November, there were some changes. Te Pāti Māori had taken two additional electorates from Labour, and both Te Pāti Māori politicians (Takutai Moana Kemp and Mariameno Kapa-Kingi) were new to parliament; the beaten Labour candidates (Peeni Henare and Kelvin Davis remained in parliament via the Labour list.^[345] The Green Party gained a higher share of the vote, giving it an additional list seat that was going to a newcomer (Kahurangi Carter).^[344] Two electorates where the preliminary results indicated success for National Party newcomers (Blair Cameron and Angee Nicholas) reverted to the Labour Party incumbents (Rachel Boyack and Phil Twyford). This meant that two other Labour candidates (Tracey McLellan and Shanan Halbert) who, based on preliminary results had gained list seats, were ultimately unsuccessful.^[344] Recounts were requested for three electorates and they were completed by 15 November, with the outcomes not changing.^[346] With National having lost two new MPs, and Te Pāti Māori and the Greens having gained two and one new MPs, respectively, the number of new MPs increased to 41.

The 2023 general election finished with the 2023 Port Waikato by-election, which was won by Andrew Bayly. As Bayly had previously been confirmed as a list MP, this gained the National Party another list MP (Nancy Lu – a first-time MP). The situation also created an additional overhang seat, with parliament now having 123 seats and 42 new MPs, meaning that one-third of the members are newcomers.^[347] As Lu's return to parliament was practically confirmed due to Bayly's strong position, she was part of the induction process for new MPs in early November.^[348]

Voter turnout

Overall turnout for the general election was 78.2%. This is down from the turnout of 82.2% in the 2020 general election. Turnout among Māori was 70.3%, down from 72.9% in the 2020 general election.^[349]

On 21 October, Stuff reported that voter turnout in New Zealand prisons were low, citing data released by the Electoral Commission. Under the New Zealand law, prisoners on remand or serving prison sentences less than three years (totalling 5,593 individuals) are eligible to vote. At Invercargill Prison, 16 prisoners on the general roll voted for Labour, three for National, three for ACT, one for NZ First, and one for NZ Loyal. At the Otago Corrections Facility, 9 voted for Labour, one for National, and one for the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party (ALCP). In Waikeria Prison, four voted for Labour, two for National, one for NZ First, and one for the Leighton Baker Party.^[350]

Stuff also surveyed the voting behaviour of prisoners on the Māori roll from the Auckland Region Women's Corrections Facility, the Serco-run Auckland South Corrections Facility, Arohata Prison, and Invercargill Prison. Eight prisoners at Auckland Regional prison voted for Labour, one for the ALCP, and one for Te Pāti Māori (TPM). At the Auckland South Corrections Facility, Labour received six votes, TPM two votes, and ALCP one vote. At Arohata Prison, five voted for Labour and three for TPM. At Invercargil Prison, seven prisoners on the Māori roll voted for Labour, two for ALCP, two for NZ First, two for TPM, and one for National.^[350]

Resignations of members

On 17 October 2023, Labour's Andrew Little announced his retirement from politics,^[351] and his resignation took effect on 5 December.^[352] Since Little did not hold an electorate seat, his list position of 12th was enough to get him into parliament.^[351] Following Little's resignation, Camilla Belich was declared elected as an MP on 6 December.^[353]

2023 Port Waikato by-election

The electorate contest in Port Waikato was cancelled because the ACT New Zealand candidate died during the general election voting period.^[354][355] A by-election to fill this vacancy was held on 25 November 2023.^[355] Andrew Bayly was elected as the MP switching from a list MP to an electorate MP. This allowed National to gain one extra List MP with Nancy Lu becoming the 123rd MP in addition to the 122 already elected.^[355][356]

Local body by-elections

Three local government by-elections have been called as a result of incumbent local body politicians resigning from their previous roles due to their election to Parliament.

• East ward by-election, Hamilton City Council: Hamilton City councillor and incoming Hamilton East MP Ryan Hamilton resigned immediately after the general election. Voting in the by-election for the council's East ward closed on 17 February 2024.^[357][358]
• Banks Peninsula community board by-election, Christchurch City Council: Christchurch City Council community board member and incoming Christchurch East MP Reuben Davidson resigned in late October. Voting in the council's Banks Peninsula community board by-election closed on 17 February 2024.^[359]
• Pukehīnau Lambton ward by-election, Wellington City Council: Wellington City councillor and incoming Wellington Central MP Tamatha Paul will serve her last day as a councillor on 10 November. Voting in the council's Pukehīnau Lambton ward by-election closed on 17 February 2024.^[360]

Marlborough District councillor and incoming New Zealand First list MP Jamie Arbuckle told media after the election he would not resign from his council position until October 2024, by which point a by-election would not be required due to the proximity of the 2025 local elections.^[361]

Ethnic representation

In late October 2023, Radio New Zealand reported that Pasifika New Zealanders were under-represented in the incoming Sixth National Government. While the outgoing Labour Government had 12 Pasifika MPs over the previous two terms, National's two Pasifika candidates Angee Nicholas and Agnes Loheni, were based in marginal seats or ranked too lowly on the party list to be elected into Parliament.^[362] Following the release of final results on 3 November, Nicholas lost her Te Atatū electorate to Labour's Phil Twyford by a margin of 131 votes whilst Loheni was ranked too low on the list, (25), to get into parliament. As a result, the incoming National-led government lacked a single Pasifika MP.^[363]

Vote counting errors

On 7 November 2023, The New Zealand Herald reported that three booths in the Port Waikato and Ilam electorates had mistakenly assigned hundreds of votes to the Leighton Baker Party and the New Conservatives Party. This affected votes which had been cast for the National, Labour, Greens, NZ First parties and Te Pāti Māori. The Electoral Commission subsequently admitted that a data entry error had resulted in this mistake. The Commission also launched a full check of all voting place results to investigate if there were more transcription errors.^[364]

On 9 November, the Electoral Commission admitted that 15 voting places had data entry errors, and that more than 700 votes were left off the final vote announced on 3 November. The Commission also said that the final checks of party, electorate and special votes had not affected overall results or allocation of seats in Parliament. Due to these corrections, 693 extra party votes and 708 candidate votes were included in the overall result. The overall turnout for the 2023 election remained at 78.2%.^[365]

In response to several reported incidents of vote counting errors at polling booths, the Auditor General John Ryan commenced a review into various aspects of the quality assurance processes for the vote count during the 2023 general election.^[366] On 7 May 2024, the Auditor-General Ryan's investigation found that the final check of the official election hours had been done in a few hours under extreme pressure on the day of its official announcement on 3 November 2023; which would normally take two days. This rushed assessment failed to identify multiple errors in the official results. Ryan also found that several apparent dual votes had been included in the official count. He made several recommendations to the Electoral Commission including reviewing vote counting procedures, the staff recruitment process, hardware requirements and information technology systems.^[367]

Judicial recounts

On 8 November 2023, the District Court of New Zealand received three applications for judicial recounts of 2023 election results in three marginal electorates. Labour sought a judicial recount for Tāmaki Makaurau where their candidate Peeni Henare had been unseated by Māori Party candidate Takutai Moana Kemp by a margin of four votes. In addition, National sought judicial recounts for Nelson and Mount Albert, where their candidates Blair Cameron and Melissa Lee trailed close behind their respective Labour candidates after the final count, by 29 and 20 votes respectively.^[368][369]

On 10 November, the Electoral Commission confirmed that Labour MP Rachel Boyack had retained Nelson by a margin of 26 votes, three votes smaller than the final vote results on 3 November.^[370] On 15 November, the Electoral Commission confirmed that Helen White had retained Mount Albert for Labour by 18 votes (two fewer than the final vote results) and that Takutai Moana Kemp had unseated Peeni Henare in Tāmaki Makaurau by 42 votes (38 more than the final vote results).^[371]

Alleged treating

On 9 November, the Electoral Commission confirmed that it was investigating allegations that food was served to voters at Manurewa Marae in the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate. Under New Zealand electoral law, serving food to voters in order to influence their vote is illegal and considered a form of treating. Māori Party candidate Takutai Moana Kemp is the CEO of Manurewa Marae. Māori Party president John Tamihere rejected allegations that food was served to voters to influence their votes, describing them as "innuendo" and "without evidence."^[372]

Return of the writ and first meeting of Parliament

On 16 November, following the completion of the judicial recounts, the writ was returned to the Clerk of the House of Representatives, along with the declaration of MPs elected from party lists.^[373]

Per Section 19 of the Constitution Act 1986, the latest possible date for the first meeting of the 54th Parliament is 28 December (six weeks following the return of the writ).^[374]

Data breach allegations

On 2 June 2024, Stuff journalist Andrea Vance reported that Statistics New Zealand was investigating several allegations by former staff at Manurewa Marae that Te Pāti Māori had illegally used 2023 New Zealand census data to target Māori electorate voters in the Tāmaki Makaurau electorate during the 2023 election, and that participants were given supermarket vouchers, wellness packs and food parcels to encourage them to fill out census forms and switch to the Māori electoral roll. The party's candidate Moana Kemp had won Tāmaki Makaurau during the 2023 election. A whistleblower from the Ministry of Social Development had alerted Statistics NZ and the Police. In response, Te Pāti Māori leader Tamihere denied the allegations and claimed that they were made by disgruntled complainants. Tamihere said that the marae had been working with the Whānau Ora Commissioning Agency to promote Māori participation in the 2023 census. Tamihere also acknowledged that marae workers had given gifts to encourage people to participate in the 2023 Census and switch to the Māori roll.^[375]

On 5 June, Vance reported that the Labour Party had filed a complaint against Te Pāti Māori in November 2023 for allegedly using personal information collected during the COVID-19 immunisation programme for political campaigning purposes during the 2023 election, which is illegal under New Zealand electoral law. Labour's complaint alleged that Māori voters in Auckland had received two text messages from the text code 2661 urging them to vote for Te Pāti Māori. 2661 was registered with the Waipareira Trust, which is led by Te Pāti Māori President Tamihere.^[376] In response, Labour leader Chris Hipkins, ACT leader David Seymour, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called for an investigation into the data breach allegations.^[377][378] The Privacy Commissioner also confirmed that Statistics NZ had alerted it to a potential privacy breach during its investigation. Chief statistician Mark Sowden also called for anyone with information to contact Statistics NZ.^[378] In response to the second allegations, Tamihere denounced the allegations as baseless and alleged that the party was being smeared by opponents for speaking up for Māori. Tamihere also accused Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki and his followers of attempting to take over Manurewa Marae.^[379]

On 7 June, Te Pāti Māori co-leaders Waititi and Ngarewa-Packer called for an urgent Police investigation into the data breach allegations made against Te Pāti Māori. Police confirmed they were already investigating complaints they had received.^[380] That same day, acting Public Service Commissioner Heather Baggott convened a meeting with the heads of the Statistics New Zealand, the Ministry of Health, Te Whatu Ora (Health New Zealand), the Ministry of Social Development, the Ministry of Justice, the Department of Internal Affairs, Te Puni Kōkiri (Ministry for Māori Development), Oranga Tamariki (Ministry for Children) and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, the Police and Electoral Commission to ensure that all relevant agencies were investigating the data breach allegations^[381]

Alleged election advertising breach

In late June 2024, the Electoral Commission referred Green MP Darleen Tana and the publishers of Verve Magazine to Police for allegedly failing to include a promoter statement in an election advertisement published in May 2023. Tana had earlier been suspended by her party over her knowledge and involvement in alleged migrant exploitation by her husband's bike company.^[382]

Domestic

Hipkins conceded to Luxon on election night and congratulated Luxon for his victory.^[383]

Veteran TVNZ broadcaster John Campbell described Labour's failure as being rooted in the party's refusal to back a capital gains tax, which he blamed on "what appears to have been truly useless focus group information", their decision not to fully implement any recommendations advised by the official Welfare Expert Advisory Group ahead of the election, and a sense of self-assurance that the election was "unloseable", leading to an "inexplicably lifeless" campaign. He noted that out of the 1.06 million eligible voters who did not vote, most statistically were renters from the youngest demographics, and claimed that National had efficiently mobilised support for landlords in a way Labour had failed to do for tenants. Campbell also pointed that the enrolment rate in the country's wealthiest electorate, the safe ACT seat of Epsom for 18-to-24 year olds was 85%, compared to a mere 46% in the safe Labour seat of Māngere. Campbell concluded: "Labour couldn't mobilise young people in the country's poorest electorates to do the same thing [that National did with landlords]. That's on Labour. And it's a terrible failure".^[384]

International

Australia's prime minister Anthony Albanese congratulated Luxon on his victory and thanked Hipkins for his service, describing Hipkins as his friend.^[385] Opposition Leader and Liberal Party of Australia (the main centre-right, liberal conservative party) leader Peter Dutton also congratulated Luxon for his victory.^[386] Cook Islands' prime minister Mark Brown called Luxon to congratulate him for his victory.^[387] India's prime minister Narendra Modi congratulated Luxon for his party's win.^[388] Singapore's prime minister Lee Hsien-Loong congratulated Luxon for his victory.^[389] Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked Hipkins for his support for Ukraine and congratulated Luxon on his victory.^[390] Elon Musk congratulated Luxon.^[391]