The election’s over; what will happen next?

08 Nov 2026

Politics

Now You Know, season two, episode 82

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After the special votes are counted, will the coalition have enough seats to govern on its own, will it have to team up with the Opportunity Party or will we all be too tired to notice either way?

There are still roughly 400,000 votes left to count in the New Zealand election. That's around 14% of the total number of votes. These are the "special votes", and they include votes from people overseas or people who voted in a different electorate to their own.

Historically, these special votes have favoured parties on the left. In the last election, for example, Te Pāti Māori picked up two more seats from specials, the Labour Party gained one and the National Party lost two.

However, this election there are fewer special votes, in part due to the government changing the rules to make it impossible to enrol during the voting period. With that in mind, how will the results change between the preliminary results and the final count? Robbie Nicol is here to break down a few possible scenarios.

Filmed and edited by Isaiah Tour.
Written and presented by Robbie Nicol.
Made with the support of NZ On Air.

Episodes

Black-and-white cut-out image of Christopher Luxon, Winston Peters and David Seymour on an abstract orange background.

The election’s over; what will happen next?

On an abstract orange background. Cut-out black-and-white images of Christopher Luxon, Qiulae Wong and Chris Hipkins.

Who won the NZ election?

A cut-out black-and-white image of Robbie Nicol on an abstract orange background. He is holding a graph of an average of the last four published polls.

How accurate are NZ's polls?

A black-and-white cut-out image of Lyric Waiwiri-Smith and Robbie Nicol shaking hands on an abstract orange and blue background.

How do parties form a government?

A black-and-white cut-out image of Robbie Nicol, next to a diagram of New Zealand parliament with extra some blue seats added.

What is the overhang, and why is it so important this election?