The 1987 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament. The governing New Zealand Labour Party, led by Prime Minister David Lange, was re-elected for a second term, although the Opposition National Party made gains. The election also saw the elimination of the Democratic Party (formerly known as the Social Credit Party) from Parliament, leaving Labour and National as the only parties with representation. The New Zealand Parliament is the legislative body of the New Zealand government. ... The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. ... The Prime Minister of New Zealand is New Zealands head of government and is the leader of the party or coalition with majority support in the Parliament of New Zealand. ... The Right Honourable David Russell Lange (pronounced Long-ee), CH, ONZ (4 August 1942 Thames, New Zealand – 13 August 2005 Auckland, New Zealand), served as Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. ... Parliamentary Opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. ... Current National Party logo The New Zealand National Party currently forms the second-largest (in terms of seats) political party in the New Zealand Parliament, and thus functions as the core of the Opposition. ... Current Democratic Party logo This article is about the modern party based around the social credit theory. ...

 

New Zealand elections
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  Members of New Zealands House of Representatives, commonly called Parliament, normally gain their seats in nationwide general elections, or, less frequently, in by-elections. ... Download high resolution version (1600x800, 12 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... The 1853 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliaments 1st term. ... The 1855 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliaments 2nd term. ... The New Zealand general election of 1860 was held between December 12 and March 28 to elect a total of 53 MPs to the 3rd session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1866 was held between February 12 and April 6 to elect a total of 70 MPs to the 4th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1871 was held between January 14 and February 1 to elect a total of 78 MPs to the 5th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1875 was held between December 29 and January 4 (1876) to elect a total of 88 MPs to the 6th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1879 was held between August 15 and September 1 to elect a total of 88 MPs to the 7th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1881 was held December 9 to elect a total of 95 MPs to the 8th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1884 was held July 22 to elect a total of 95 MPs to the 9th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1887 was held July 22 to elect a total of 95 MPs to the 9th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1890 was held December 5 to elect a total of 74 MPs to the 11th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1893 was held November 28 to elect a total of 74 MPs to the 12th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1896 was held December 4 to elect a total of 74 MPs to the 13th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1899 was held December 6 to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 14th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1902 was held November 25 to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 15th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1905 was held December 6 to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 16th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1908 was held November 17, November 24 and December 1 to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 17th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1911 was held December 7 and December 14 to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 18th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1914 was held December 10 to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 19th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1919 was held December 17 to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 20h session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1922 was held December 7 to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 21st session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1925 was held November 4 to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 22nd session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The New Zealand general election of 1925 was held November 14 to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 23rd session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The 1931 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliaments 24th term. ... The 1935 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliaments 25th term. ... The 1938 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliaments 26th term. ... The 1943 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliaments 27th term. ... The 1946 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliaments 28th term. ... The 1949 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliaments 29th term. ... The 1951 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliaments 30th term. ... The 1954 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliaments 31st term. ... The 1957 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliaments 32nd term. ... The 1960 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliaments 33rd term. ... The 1963 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliaments 34th term. ... The 1966 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliaments 35th term. ... The final results of the New Zealand General Election 1969 were 45 seats won by the National Party, and 39 seats won by the Labour Party, with no minor parties winning any seats. ... The final results of the New Zealand General Election 1972 were 55 seats won by the Labour party (led by Norman Kirk) and 32 seats won by the National Party, with no minor parties winning any seats. ... The 1975 New Zealand general election was the first election in New Zealand where all permanent residents of New Zealand were eligible to vote, although only citizens were able to be elected. ... The 1978 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to elect the 39th New Zealand Parliament. ... The 1981 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The 1984 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The 1990 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliaments 43rd term. ... The 1993 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The 1996 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The 1999 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the 46th session of the New Zealand Parliament. ... The 2002 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the 47th New Zealand Parliament. ... The 2005 New Zealand general election took place on 17 September 2005. ...

Background

Before the election, the Labour Party (in government) held 56 seats, giving it an absolute majority in Parliament. The National Party (in opposition) held 37 seats. The Democrats, a small party devoted to the principles of Social Credit, held two seats. Social Credit is an economic theory and a social movement which started in the early 1920s. ...

Of particular importance in the election were the economic reforms being undertaken by Roger Douglas, the Minister of Finance. These reforms, sometimes known as "Rogernomics", involved monetarist approaches to controlling inflation, the sale of state assets, and the removal of tariffs and subsidies. All these things were strongly opposed by many traditional Labour supporters, who saw them as a betrayal of the party's left-wing principles. Many commentators believed that public anger over Rogernomics could cost the government the election. Sir Roger Douglas is a former New Zealand politician and senior Cabinet minister, best known for his leading role in the radical economic restructuring undertaken by the New Zealand Labour Party government in the 1980s. ... The Minister of Finance is a senior figure within the government of New Zealand. ... The term Rogernomics, a portmanteau of Roger and economics, was created by analogy with Reaganomics to describe the economic policies followed by New Zealand Finance Minister Roger Douglas from his appointment in 1984. ... Monetarism is a set of views concerning the determination of national income and monetary economics. ... A tariff is a tax placed on imported and/or exported goods, sometimes called a customs duty. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

Another matter of importance, and perhaps one which enabled Labour to survive public dissatisfaction, was the nuclear issue. In the previous parliamentary term, New Zealand had adopted legislation which prevented nuclear weapons or nuclear-powered ships entering New Zealand, a move which provoked an angry reaction from New Zealand's allies in the ANZUS treaty. The National Party intended to revoke the ban, but the New Zealand public were supportive of it. Labour's support for the ban is often considered to be an important factor in the party's re-election. Wikisource has original text related to this article: Transwiki:ANZUS The Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty (ANZUS or ANZUS Treaty) is the military alliance which binds Australia and the United States, and separately Australia and New Zealand to cooperate on defence matters in the Pacific Ocean area, though...

The election

The election was held on 15 August. 2,114,656 people were registered to vote. Turnout was 89.1%, somewhat lower than the 1984 election.

Summary of results

The 1987 election saw the Labour Party win 57 seats in parliament, enough for it to retain its outright majority. Labour held one more seat than after the previous elections. The National Party won 40 seats, an increase of three. It was possible for both parties to increase their number of seats partly due to the disappearance of the Democrats and partly due to the increase in the total number of seats.

Although Labour emerged from the elections with a 17-seat lead over National, the actual difference between each party's vote count was considerably smaller. Labour's share of the total vote was 48.0% (up from 43.0% in 1984), while National's was 44.0% (up from 35.5%). While Labour did retain its lead, the gap between Labour and National closed by a larger extent than the seat count would indicate.

The Democrats, despite winning 5.7% of the total vote, did not win any electorates, including the two which they had held before the election. The Democrats have not regained parliamentary represenation under their own name since losing it in these elections, although did manage to enter parliament as part of the larger Alliance. Current Alliance logo The Alliance, when referring to New Zealand politics, refers to a left-wing political party. ...

The New Zealand Party, which had gained 12.2% of the vote in the previous election, performed poorly, gaining less that 0.1% support. Party logo The New Zealand Party was, as its name suggests, a political party operating in New Zealand. ...

Detailed results

Displayed on the table are:

• The number of candidates the party put forward.
• The total number of votes received by all the party's candidates.
• The percentage of the whole that these votes make up.
• The number of seats that the party won.

There were 97 seats being contested, two more than were in the previous parliament. All of these seats (and thus all representation in parliament) were won by one of the two major parties. The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. ... Current National Party logo The New Zealand National Party currently forms the second-largest (in terms of seats) political party in the New Zealand Parliament, and thus functions as the core of the Opposition. ... Current Democratic Party logo This article is about the modern party based around the social credit theory. ... Download high resolution version (423x604, 18 KB)Map of New Zealand election results in 1987 File links The following pages link to this file: New Zealand general election 1987 Categories: GFDL images ...

The Labour Party, which was in government, won 57 seats, giving it a majority. Most of the seats won by Labour were in urban areas, following the party's typical pattern. Labour was particularly strong in the Wellington region, where it won all ten urban seats. It was also strong in Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin, the other three urban centres, as well as smaller cities such as Hamilton, New Plymouth, Nelson, Napier, Hastings and Palmerston North. Labour also retained its traditional dominance in the Maori seats, winning all four by large margins. Alternative meanings at Wellington (disambiguation) A view of Wellington from the top of Mount Victoria. ... Auckland, in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest urban area in New Zealand. ... For other uses, see Christchurch (disambiguation). ... Alternative meanings at Dunedin (disambiguation) Dunedin is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, located in coastal Otago. ... Waikato River passing through Hamilton Hamilton is New Zealands 4th-largest metropolitan area. ... New Plymouth is the port and main city in the Taranaki region on the west coast of the North Island of New Zealand. ... The city of Nelson stands on the eastern side of Tasman Bay at the northern end of the South Island of New Zealand. ... Napier is an important port city in Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. ... Hastings Town Square Hastings City is a city in Hawkes Bay, close to the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. ... Palmerston North is a city in the Manawatu-Wanganui region of the North Island of New Zealand. ...

The National Party, also following its traditional patters, was strongest in rural areas, winning the vast majority of seats in these regions. The party's primary wins in urban areas were in Auckland, with the party taking six seats. The party also won a number of seats in smaller cities, such as Rotorua, Tauranga, Invercargill and Whangarei. The party performed poorly in the Maori electorates, coming third in all four. Rotorua is a city located on the southern shore of Lake Rotorua in the Bay of Plenty region of the North Island of New Zealand. ... Tauranga (population 90,906 — 2001 census) is the major city of the western Bay of Plenty on the east coast of the North Island of New Zealand. ... Invercargill is the southernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the most southern settlements in the world. ... Whangarei is the largest urban area in the Northland region of the North Island of New Zealand. ...

While no minor parties managed to win an electorate, several did manage to gain second place, outperforming one of the major parties but being defeated by the other. The Democrats (formerly Social Credit) was the strongest of the minor parties, coming second in five electorates. Two electorates, East Coast Bays and Pakuranga, were held by the Democrats prior to the election, but were narrowly lost to National candidates. In the other electorates (Coromandel, Rangitikei and Wanganui) the Democrats were the challengers. In the four Maori electorates, the Mana Motuhake party gained second place. Its best result, 31.6%, was obtained in Northern Maori. The New Zealand Party also performed strongly in some electorates, although not as strongly as in the previous election. Current Democratic Party logo This article is about the modern party based around the social credit theory. ... Mana Maori Motuhake is a Maori political party in New Zealand. ... Party logo The New Zealand Party was, as its name suggests, a political party operating in New Zealand. ...

Independent candidates did not perform well in the 1987 elections, with none of them winning a seat or even placing second.