The polls close at 7pm on Saturday October 14. The Electoral Commission will start counting the advance votes from 7pm on election day, and the first results are expected to be posted around 7.04pm. The Commission aims to post results from 50% of voting places by 10pm and 95% by 11.30pm.
However, it may take several days to count all of the votes, including special votes, which are cast by people who are not able to vote on election day. The official results of the election will be published on Friday November 3.
How reliable are the early results?
The early results are generally reliable, but they should be approached with caution, especially for individual electorates. The party vote, on the other hand, is based on a large sample size of advance votes, so it is more likely to be accurate.
Coalition talks and formation of goverment?
Coalition talks can begin as soon as the results are known. However, in some cases, parties may wait until the special votes have been counted before starting negotiations. This is because the special votes can sometimes change the balance of power in Parliament.
Coalition talks can last anywhere from a few days to several weeks. The longest negotiations in New Zealand history were after the first MMP election in 1996, when it took two months to form a government.
What did the last polls say?
The last polls before the election pointed to a National victory, but one that would require support from both Act and NZ First to govern.
