The 1993 New Zealand general election was held on 6 November 1993 to determine the composition of the 44th New Zealand Parliament. Voters elected 99 members to the House of Representatives, up from 97 members at the 1990 election. The election was held concurrently with an electoral reform referendum to replace the first-past-the-post system, with all members elected from single-member electorates, with mixed-member proportional representation. It saw the governing National Party, led by Jim Bolger, win a second term in office, despite a major swing away from National in both seats and votes, and the carrying of the referendum by 53.9% to 46.1%.^[2]

Quick Facts All 99 seats in the House of Representatives 50 seats needed for a majority, Turnout ...

1993 New Zealand general election

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All 99 seats in the House of Representatives 50 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	1,922,796 (82.82%)
First party Second party   Leader Jim Bolger Mike Moore Party National Labour Leader since 26 March 1986 4 September 1990 Leader's seat King Country Christchurch North Last election 67 seats, 47.82% 29 seats, 35.14% Seats before 63 29 Seats won 50 45 Seat change 13 16 Popular vote 673,892 666,759 Percentage 35.05% 34.68% Swing 12.77% 0.46%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Jim Anderton Winston Peters Party Alliance NZ First Leader since 1 December 1991 18 July 1993 Leader's seat Sydenham Tauranga Last election 1 seat, 14.28%[1] New party Seats before 2 2 Seats won 2 2 Seat change Popular vote 350,063 161,481 Percentage 18.21% 8.40% Swing 3.93%[1] 8.40%
Results by electorate, shaded by winning margin
Prime Minister before election Jim Bolger National Subsequent Prime Minister Jim Bolger National

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Having broken electoral campaign promises and embarked on supply-side economics and wide-sweeping cuts during his first term, Bolger led the most unpopular government since the Great Depression.^[3] The neoliberal actions of Ruth Richardson, his Minister of Finance, were termed Ruthanasia by the media, and her Mother of all Budgets in 1991 caused huge protests.^[3] By September 1991, support for National had plummeted to a hitherto unprecedented polling low of 22%. Mike Moore, ousted by Bolger in a landslide just three years before, attacked National's caucus as dangerous right-wing extremists, and enjoyed considerable personal popularity. While the high unemployment Ruthanasia had caused had recovered somewhat by 1993, Bolger's approval ratings remained dire against Moore up until election day.^[4]

With a vote difference of just 7,133 between the two major parties, the election was one of the closest in New Zealand history. Bolger's 17-seat majority gained in 1990 was pared back to a bare majority of one seat. The Labour Party, led by former Prime Minister Mike Moore, enjoyed a 16-seat rise and almost won outright. The two smaller parties - Winston Peters' New Zealand First, which he formed after leaving National over conflict with their economic policy, and Jim Anderton's Alliance of parties to the left of Labour - both outperformed expectations and won significant shares of the vote. However, the first-past-the-post system kept them from gaining more than two seats each.

If MMP had been in use, the left-wing bloc of Labour and the Alliance – having secured a larger share of the vote than National or New Zealand First – would likely have formed a government. This was the last time prior to the 2020 election where a party won an absolute majority of seats.

Before the election, the National Party governed with 64 seats, while the opposition Labour Party held only 29. The 1990 election had been a major victory for the National Party, with the unpopular Fourth Labour Government being decisively defeated. The Labour Party had become unpopular for its ongoing economic reforms, nicknamed Rogernomics after Minister of Finance Roger Douglas, which were based around liberalisation, privatisation, and the removal of tariffs and subsidies. The National Party divided as to the merits of the reforms, with conservatives generally opposed and libertarians generally in favour. The party had fought the 1990 election saying that the Labour government's program was too radical, and was being carried out without any thought of the social consequences – Jim Bolger spoke about "the Decent Society", promising a return to a more moderate and balanced platform.

Once in government, however, the key Minister of Finance role was taken not by a moderate but by Ruth Richardson, who wished to expand, not end, the economic reforms. Upon gaining power, Richardson intensified the deregulation, creating an portfolio of neoliberal policies popularly known as Ruthanasia. Richardson's "Mother of all Budgets", released in 1991, slashed available unemployment, sickness and welfare benefits. The families benefit by $25.00 to $27.00, unemployment benefit was cut by $14.00 a week, sickness benefit by $27.04. Universal payments for family benefits were completely abolished, and user pay schemes were introduced in a libertarian fashion.^[5][6] The Employment Contracts Act sought to weaken trade unions, by meaning employees had to have individual contracts or be on a single-employer collective agreement.^[7] Richardson also ended free tertiary education altogether, after the Fourth Labour Government had ended bursaries.^[8][9]

These policies, a steep departure even from Rogernomics, led to a major backlash in multiple aspects of society, both on the left and the right.^[5] Students and trade unionists led protests and marches in Wellington and Auckland against university cuts and the Employment Contracts Bill.^[10][11][3] Many of the voters who had felt betrayed by Labour's reforms now felt betrayed by the National Party as well. The Mother of all Budgets not only caused widespread public contempt for the National Party but also wreaked havoc internally.^[12] The budget was lamented by the conservative wing of the National Party; former Prime Minister Sir Robert Muldoon resigned from his Tamaki electorate in protest of Richardson's policies, triggering a by-election. Polling declined massively for National, and Mike Moore shot up in approval ratings while attacking National's caucus as right-wing extremists.^[13][4] According to an episode of Frontline on TVNZ 1 that aired less than two weeks before the election, Bolger led the most unpopular government since the Great Depression.^[3] By September 1991, support for National had plummeted to a hitherto unprecedented polling low of 22%.

The Alliance, the largest "third party", was a broad coalition of five smaller groups – the NewLabour Party (a Labour splinter), the Democrats (a social credit party), the Greens (an environmentalist party), Mana Motuhake (a Māori party), and the Liberal Party (a National splinter). The Alliance held three seats in Parliament – one belonged to Jim Anderton, who had been re-elected under a NewLabour banner in the seat he had formerly held for Labour, while the other two belonged to the National MPs who formed the Liberal Party. In its first electoral test, the 1992 by-election in Tamaki, the Alliance had performed well, taking second place. Another smaller group was New Zealand First, a party established by former National MP Winston Peters. Peters had broken with his party after a number of policy disputes with its leadership, and resigned from parliament to contest his seat as an independent. After being overwhelmingly re-elected, Peters established New Zealand First to promote his views. Peters was the party's sole MP.

Another consequence of dissatisfaction with both major parties was the referendum conducted alongside the 1993 election. The culmination of the larger decade-long New Zealand electoral reform process, the referendum was held following the September 1992 indicative referendum, which saw 85% of voters voting for change from the existing First Past The Post (FPP) system, and 70% choosing the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) as its preferred replacement: a proportional system which would make it easier for smaller parties to win seats. It asked voters to choose whether to keep the existing FPP system or change to MMP, with 53.9% of voters opting to change to MMP.

While National and Labour usually stood candidates in every seat, National was one candidate short as their Southern Maori candidate apparently did not apply in time.

The election was held on 6 November. 2,321,664 people were registered to vote, and 85.2% turned out. This turnout was almost exactly the same as for the previous election, although slightly less than what would be seen for the following one.

With a vote difference of just 7,133 between the two major parties, the election was one of the closest in New Zealand history. Preliminary results based on election night counts saw the country facing its first hung parliament since 1931, with no party gaining the 50 seats required for a majority. The National Party won 49 seats, a drop of 15 from before the election, and Labour had won 46 seats, with the balance of power held with the Alliance and New Zealand First, which won two seats each.^[14][15] This led to Jim Bolger saying on public television, "Bugger the pollsters", as polls had predicted a comfortable National victory.^[16] Bolger reacted to the election results by giving a conciliatory speech, while Labour leader Mike Moore delivered a speech later described by political scientist Jack Vowles as "damaging" and "more appropriate for a decisive Labour win than a narrow defeat."^[17]

On election night result with the two major parties tied, the Governor-General Dame Catherine Tizard asked her predecessor Sir David Beattie to form a committee, along with three retired appeal court judges, to decide whom to appoint as prime minister.^[18] However National won one more seat and was returned to power when the official count saw the seat of Waitaki swing from Labour to National, giving National 50 seats and Labour 45 seats. Labour's Sir Peter Tapsell agreed to become speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives (so that National would not lose a vote in the house). Hence National had a majority of one seat.^[15]

The 1993–1996 parliamentary term would see a number of defections from both major parties, meaning that National would eventually be forced to make alliances to retain power.

A number of local by-elections were required due to the resignation of incumbent local body politicians following their election to Parliament:

• A by-election to the Auckland City Council was caused after Hauraki Gulf Islands Ward councillor Sandra Lee resigned her seat after she was elected MP for Auckland Central, necessitating a by-election to fill the council vacancy. The by-election was won by Gordon Hodson.^[23]