Election signs in New Zealand’s
2023 mixed member proportional
(MMP) general election

New Zealand’s New Zealand’s 10th general election under the country's mixed member proportional (MMP) representation electoral system was held on 14 October 2023. After five-and-a-quarter years as prime minister, Jacinda Arden stepped down from the position in January 2023 and was replaced as PM by Chris Hipkins. In the general election nine months later, Labour’s share of the vote plummeted from just over 50 percent in 2020 to slightly less than 27 percent in 2023, while the National Party increased its share of the poll by 12.5 percent to 38 percent. In addition, the Greens, ACT, New Zealand First, and the Maori Party all increased their share of the vote. Unsurprisingly, therefore, the election resulted in something that every election bar one (2017) since the adoption of MMP has produced – namely, a government led by the largest party in Parliament. National’s leader, Christopher Luxon, thus became the country’s 42nd prime minister (as well as the third in 2023).