At stake in this election:

• 120 seats in the House of Representatives

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: Queen ELIZABETH II *
• Head of Government: Prime Minister Jenny SHIPLEY
• Assembly: New Zealand has a unicameral House of Representatives with 120 seats.

* The Queen is represented by Governor General Sir Michael HARDIE BOYS (since 21 March 1996) .
The monarchy is hereditary.

Description of electoral system:

• The Queen is hereditary.
• The Prime Minister is appointed by the governor-general.
• In the House of Representatives, 67 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 3-year terms and 53 members are allocated through a closed-list proportional representation system to serve 3-year terms.***

*** New Zealand has a mixed-member proportional system in which voters have two votes: a 'party vote' and an 'electorate vote'. Within this system, 61 members are elected by simple majority vote in single-member General electoral districts and 6 members are elected from single-member Maori electoral districts. The remaining 53 members of the House of Representative are elected from nationwide party lists, according to each party's share of all the party votes. All members serve 3-year terms.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: New Zealand Labour Party (NZLP)
  • Leader: Helen CLARK
  • Seats won in this election: 49
  • Seats won in last election: 37
• Party: National Party (NP)
  • Leader: Jenny SHIPLEY
  • Seats won in this election: 39
  • Seats won in last election: 44
• Bloc: Alliance
  • Leader: Jim ANDERTON
  • Seats won in this election: 10
  • Seats won in last election: 13
• Party: ACT New Zealand
  • Leader: Richard PREBBLE
  • Seats won in this election: 9
  • Seats won in last election: 8
• Party: Green Party
  • Leader: Jeanette FITZSIMONS and Rod DONALD
  • Seats won in this election: 7
  • Seats won in last election: 0
• Party: New Zealand First Party (NZFP)
  • Leader: Winston PETERS
  • Seats won in this election: 5
  • Seats won in last election: 17
• Party: United New Zealand (UNZ)
  • Leader: Peter DUNNE
  • Seats won in this election: 1
  • Seats won in last election: 1

Last Parliamentary election:

• Parliamentary elections were last held on October 12, 1996.
  Seats decided in the last election: 120

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 3,835,100 (1999)
• Registered Voters: 2,509,872 (1999)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 1,951,399 (1999)

·         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: 35 (following the 1999 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: 575,265 (est.)