At stake in this election:

• 122 seats in the House of Representatives

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: Queen ELIZABETH II *
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Helen CLARK
• Assembly: New Zealand has a unicameral House of Representatives with 122 seats.

* Represented by Governor General Anand SATYANAND since August 2006.

Description of electoral system:

• The Queen is hereditary.
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the governor-general.
• In the House of Representatives, 70 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 3-year terms and 52 members are elected through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 3-year terms.***

*** Seven Maori single-member constituencies are included in the 69 members elected by popular vote. In 2005, the total number of assembly seats increased to 121 because the Maori Party won one more electorate seat than its entitlement under the party vote.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: New Zealand Labor Party (NZLP)
  • Leader: Helen CLARK
  • Seats won in this election: 43
  • Seats won in last election: 50
• Party: ACT New Zealand (ACT)
  • Leader: Rodney HIDE
  • Seats won in this election: 5
  • Seats won in last election: 2
• Party: Green Party
  • Leader: Jeanette FITZSIMONS
  • Seats won in this election: 9
  • Seats won in last election: 6
• Party: National Party (NP)
  • Leader: John KEY
  • Seats won in this election: 58
  • Seats won in last election: 48
• Party: New Zealand First Party (NZFP)
  • Leader: Winston PETERS
  • Seats won in this election: 0
  • Seats won in last election: 7
• Party: Maori Party******
  • Leader: Whatarangi WINIATA
  • Seats won in this election: 5
  • Seats won in last election: 4
• Party: Progressive Party
  • Leader: Jim ANDERTON
  • Seats won in this election: 1
  • Seats won in last election: 1
• Party: United Future (UF)
  • Leader: Peter DUNNE
  • Seats won in this election: 1
  • Seats won in last election: 3

****** Co-leaders of the Maori Party are MPs Tariana Turia and Pita Sharples

Last Parliamentary election:

• The last election for New Zealand's House of Representatives was held on September 17, 2005. The Labour Party (NZLP) won the election with some 50 seats, which required it to form a minority government with various coalition partners.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 4,259,800 (2008)
• Registered Voters: 2,990,759 (November 2008)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 2,169,834 (2008)

·         Is New Zealand a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)

·         Has New Zealand ratified CEDAW: Yes (10 January 1985)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 41 (following the 2008 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 9 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is New Zealand a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has New Zealand ratified CRPD: Yes (25 September 2008)

·         Population with a disability: 638,970 (est.)