The 1990 New Zealand general election was held on 27 October to determine the composition of the 43rd New Zealand parliament. The governing Labour Party was defeated, ending its two terms in office. The National Party, led by Jim Bolger, won a landslide victory and formed the new government.

Quick Facts All 97 seats in the House of Representatives 49 seats needed for a majority, First party ...

1990 New Zealand general election

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All 97 seats in the House of Representatives 49 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader Jim Bolger Mike Moore Jim Anderton Party National Labour NewLabour Leader since 26 March 1986 4 September 1990 1 April 1989 Leader's seat King Country Christchurch North Sydenham Last election 40 seats, 44.02% 57 seats, 47.96% New party Seats won 67 29 1 Seat change 27 28 1 Popular vote 872,358 640,915 94,171 Percentage 47.82% 35.14% 5.16% Swing 3.80% 12.82% 5.16%
Results of the election
Prime Minister before election Mike Moore Labour Subsequent Prime Minister Jim Bolger National

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This election was the first time since 1975 that National had won the popular vote.^[1][2]

The Labour Party had taken office after defeating the National Party under Robert Muldoon in the 1984 election. David Lange became Prime Minister and Roger Douglas became Minister of Finance. The economic program outlined by Douglas was deeply unpopular with Labour's traditional supporters, however – deregulation, privatisation, and free trade, all opposed by the party's more left-wing members, were a key part of the Rogernomics platform. This internal dissent was off-set somewhat by new social legislation and a strong stance against nuclear weapons.

Labour was re-elected in the 1987 election with its parliamentary majority untouched, but the internal disputes continued. Eventually Lange forced Douglas to resign in December 1988, but continued destabilisation of his leadership by Douglas had weakened Lange's position such that he resigned eight months later. He was replaced as Prime Minister by Geoffrey Palmer, but Palmer failed to revive Labour's falling popularity. Several months before the election, Palmer was replaced by Mike Moore. The National Party was performing strongly – its leader, Jim Bolger, spoke repeatedly of "the Decent Society", saying that the reforms were doing significant damage to the social fabric of the country. The government was also being challenged by the NewLabour Party, founded by renegade MP Jim Anderton.

The date for the 1990 election was 27 October. 2,202,157 people were registered to vote, and 85.2% of these people turned out. The number of seats being contested was 97 – this was the same as in the previous election, which had the largest number of seats for any Parliament until that point.

The 1990 election eventually saw a victory for the National Party, then in opposition. National won nearly half (48%) of the vote and 67 (69%) of the seats, becoming the fourth National government. This was the highest number of seats the party had ever won, either in absolute terms or as a percentage. Four new (and young) National MPs: (Bill English, Tony Ryall, Roger Sowry and Nick Smith) were called the "brat pack" by Sir Robert Muldoon (himself one of the "Young Turks" of 1960).^[3]

The new Green Party gained the third-highest number of votes, but won no seats. The NewLabour Party won a single seat, due to Jim Anderton retaining the Sydenham seat he originally won as a Labour candidate.

The governing Labour Party, by contrast, suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat since it first won power in the 1935 election, winning only 29 (30%) of the seats and 35% of the vote (its lowest percentage since 1931), and losing 27 seats. Initially it appeared that twelve ministers and the Speaker had lost their seats, but Fran Wilde scraped in on special votes. Many of Labour's talented "class of 84" were sent away, though five of them, Annette King, Jim Sutton, Trevor Mallard, Richard Northey and Judy Keall, returned in 1993.^[4]

The result was primarily due to intense anger at Labour and its policies (shown by it losing 12% of the vote) rather than love of National (which only increased its vote by 4%).

A number of local by-elections were required due to the resignation of incumbent local body politicians following their election to Parliament:

• A by-election to the Auckland City Council was caused after Maungakiekie Ward councillor Grahame Thorne resigned his seat after he was elected MP for Onehunga, necessitating a by-election to fill the council vacancy. The by-election was won by Ken Graham with two candidates from the general election, Richard Northey (Labour candidate for Eden) and Laurie Ross (Green candidate for Onehunga), also contesting.^[6]
• A by-election to the Auckland Regional Council was caused after Panmure Ward councillor Judith Tizard resigned her seat after she was elected MP for Panmure, necessitating a by-election to fill the council vacancy. The by-election was won by Bruce Jesson with a retiring candidate at the general election, Bob Tizard (previously Labour MP for Panmure) also contesting.^[7][8]
• A by-election to the Wellington City Council was caused after Southern Ward councillor John Blincoe resigned his seat after he was elected MP for Nelson, necessitating a by-election to fill the council vacancy. The by-election was won by Margaret Bonner with two candidates from the general election, Ann Nolan (National candidate for Island Bay) and Jeff Montgomery (NewLabour candidate for Wellington Central), also contesting.^[9][10][11]