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7 November 2026

General election — Te Pōtitanga ā-Motu 2026

Saturday 7 November 2026. The Election Service Plan says voting places are open from 9am to 7pm. The Candidate Handbook’s title is Te Pōtitanga ā-Motu 2026.

Last updated: 27 October 2026. Report an error

Editorial preview

Last updated: 27 October 2026. Map the General Editorial Team.

What is being voted on Saturday 7 November 2026 is a parliamentary general election. The Election Service Plan and the key-dates release agree on that Saturday. Voting places are open from 9am to 7pm, including telephone dictation. Advance voting is from 26 October to 6 November, with hours that vary by place. Overseas voting runs until 7pm New Zealand time on election day for people enrolled by midnight on 25 October. This page does not extend that enrolment deadline and does not describe the marks a voter makes on the paper. The handbook is the place for the layout of the two sides of the ballot.

The Commission’s 9 October 2026 release says seventeen registered parties lodged a party list and are seeking the party vote, and it prints them in alphabetical order. This page repeats that order and links every name to the party-list file authorised by the Chief Electoral Officer. List seats, the file says, are filled from that list after any list candidate who has won an electorate seat is removed. Candidates who stand only in an electorate are not in the file. They are on vote.nz, by electorate. The handbook’s ballot-paper order is not the same as the alphabetical release: surnames on the right, party-only parties afterwards on the left. This page does not pretend the release is a photograph of the paper.

The Māori title on this page is the handbook’s title, Te Pōtitanga ā-Motu 2026. The same page names the Commission Te Kaitiaki Take Kōwhiri. The plan’s phrase for a voting place that works in te reo Māori and English is Whare pōti Māori. Those are the phrases that were read. They are not a translation of this guide, and no hreflang is offered for a Māori page that was not written. Readers who want the Commission’s own te reo material should open elections.nz and vote.nz.

Earlier general elections stay on the results index as dates: 14 October 2023, 17 October 2020, 23 September 2017, 20 September 2014, 26 November 2011 and 8 November 2008. Their totals are not on this page. A past share is not a guide to November. Preliminary results of this election, the plan says, come out progressively from 7pm on 7 November. Official results, the key-dates release says, are declared on 27 November. The results section here stays empty of counts until that 7pm opening, and then only from the Commission’s results service. There is no forecast beside it.

The election-day rule this page follows is section 197. It bars the inquiries described there, before the close of the poll, and it bars a party name published on polling day, subject to the website defence in subsection 2A. The names were placed here on 27 October 2026. The page does not tell a reader which party or candidate to support, and it does not rank the seventeen names. Promoting this site on polling day would sit outside that defence, so the names are here for people who open the page themselves. A wrong name or a wrong hour should be checked against the release, the file, and the plan.

Sources for this preview

What is being elected

The Election Service Plan and the key-dates release say the 2026 General Election will be held on Saturday 7 November. The Candidate Handbook titles it Te Pōtitanga ā-Motu 2026 and names the publisher Electoral Commission Te Kaitiaki Take Kōwhiri. It is a parliamentary general election under the Electoral Act 1993. This page does not describe how a party vote or an electorate vote should be cast.

How to vote

The plan says voting on election day, Saturday 7 November, is from 9am to 7pm, including telephone dictation voting. It says more than 2,300 voting places will be open that day. Advance voting is from Monday 26 October until Friday 6 November, and the days and hours of those places vary. Locations are at vote.nz or on the freephone 0800 36 76 56. Those opening hours were not copied, because the plan does not print one set of advance hours.

The plan says overseas voting runs from Wednesday 21 October until 7pm on Saturday 7 November, New Zealand time, for voters enrolled by midnight on Sunday 25 October, New Zealand time. That enrolment time has passed. This page does not say a person can still enrol.

The plan says a Whare pōti Māori provides voting services in te reo Māori and English, and that anyone can vote at one. The Māori Electoral Option is the choice of the Māori roll or the general roll. The plan says the Commission will produce material in English, te reo Māori, and 29 other languages. No te reo page was opened on 27 October 2026, so this page is not a translation.

Parties seeking the party vote

The 9 October 2026 release lists 17 registered parties seeking the party vote, in alphabetical order. Each name links to the party-list file, which prints list candidates in list order. Electorate candidates are on vote.nz by electorate. The handbook says electorate names are alphabetical by surname on the right-hand side of the ballot paper, and that parties contesting only the party vote are listed alphabetically on the left after the parties that also contest an electorate. This page does not rebuild that paper and does not say which name to mark.

Section 197(1)(g) bars publishing a party name on polling day before the close of the poll. Section 197(2A) is a defence when the name was placed on a website before polling day, the site is not pushed that day to people who did not choose to open it, and the site is not advertised that day. These names were placed on 27 October 2026.

Parties seeking the party vote

The parties below are the registered parties the Electoral Commission listed, in alphabetical order, as seeking the party vote, in the release read on 27 October 2026. Each link is the Chief Electoral Officer’s party-list file, which prints that party’s list candidates in list order. Electorate candidates are published by electorate on vote.nz and are not retyped here. Source: Electoral Commission, candidate and party lists released, 9 October 2026.

The order is the alphabetical order in that release. The Candidate Handbook describes a different layout on the ballot paper: electorate candidates alphabetical by surname, with party-only parties alphabetical after the parties that also contest an electorate.

Earlier official results

The results index, read on 27 October 2026, lists general elections on 14 October 2023, 17 October 2020, 23 September 2017, 20 September 2014, 26 November 2011 and 8 November 2008. Those totals are not copied here. electionresults.govt.nz. The key-dates release says official results of this election are declared on 27 November 2026.

Election night

No count is shown here before 7:00 pm New Zealand daylight time on 7 November 2026. The plan says preliminary results are released progressively from 7pm that day on electionresults.govt.nz. After that hour this page reads only a same-origin file. If the file is missing, the link is that service. This page has no forecast.

electionresults.govt.nz

How to vote, key times and official sources

Each line below is from a page read on 27 October 2026. A time those pages did not print is not added.

Frequently asked questions

When is the general election?

The Election Service Plan for 2026 says Saturday 7 November 2026.

What are the voting hours?

The election-day part of the plan says 9am to 7pm on Saturday 7 November. Advance hours are not one national set.

Where are the candidates?

The 9 October 2026 release lists the registered parties seeking the party vote, in alphabetical order, and each name links to the party-list file. That file is the list order of list candidates. Electorate candidates are on vote.nz by electorate. Section 197(2A) is why names placed on this page on 27 October 2026 may remain on polling day if the site is not pushed or advertised that day. This page does not say which name to mark.

Does this page print surveys?

No. Section 197(1)(d) and (e) bars those polls before the close of the poll. This page prints no such figures on any day.

When does the vote count appear?

Not before 7:00 pm New Zealand daylight time on 7 November 2026, and only from the results service the plan names.

Sources