The 2002 New Zealand general election was held on 27 July 2002 to determine the composition of the 47th New Zealand Parliament. It saw the reelection of Helen Clark's Labour Party government, as well as the worst-ever performance by the opposition National Party (the 2020 election would see it suffer a greater defeat in terms of net loss of seats).

Quick Facts All 120 seats in the House of Representatives 61 seats needed for a majority, Turnout ...

2002 New Zealand general election

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All 120 seats in the House of Representatives 61 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	2,055,404 (76.98%) 7.79%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Helen Clark Bill English Winston Peters Party Labour National NZ First Leader since 1 December 1993 8 October 2001 18 July 1993 Leader's seat Mount Albert Clutha-Southland Tauranga Last election 49 seats, 38.74% 39 seats, 30.50% 5 seats, 4.26% Seats won 52 27 13 Seat change 3 12 8 Electorate vote 891,866 44.69% 2.94 609,458 30.54% 1.38 79,380 3.98% 0.21 Party vote 838,219 41.26% 2.52 425,310 20.93% 9.57 210,912 10.38% 6.12   Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party   Leader Richard Prebble Rod Donald Jeanette Fitzsimons Peter Dunne Party ACT Green United Future New Zealand Leader since 26 March 1996 21 May 1995 16 November 2000 Leader's seat List List List (lost Coromandel) Ohariu-Belmont Last election 9 seats, 7.04% 7 seats, 5.16% 1 seat, 1.65%a Seats won 9 9 8 Seat change 0 2 7 Electorate vote 70,888 3.55% 0.97 106,717 5.35% 1.14 92,484 4.63% 2.59 Party vote 145,078 7.14% 0.10 142,250 7.00% 1.84 135,918 6.69% 5.04   Seventh party Eighth party   Leader Jim Anderton Laila Harré Party Progressive Alliance Leader since 27 July 2002 20 April 2002 Leader's seat Wigram List (lost seat) Last election Not yet founded 10 seats, 7.74% Seats won 2 0 Seat change 2 10 Electorate vote 36,647 1.84% new 33,655 1.69% 5.21 Party vote 34,542 1.70% new 25,888 1.27% 6.47
Results by electorate, shaded by winning margin
Prime Minister before election Helen Clark Labour Subsequent Prime Minister Helen Clark Labour

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A controversial issue in the election campaign was the end of a moratorium on genetic engineering, strongly opposed by the Green Party. Some commentators have claimed that the tension between Labour and the Greens on this issue was a more notable part of the campaign than any tension between Labour and its traditional right-wing opponents. The release of Nicky Hager's book Seeds of Distrust prior to the election also sparked much debate. The book examined how the government handled the contamination of a shipment of imported corn with genetically modified seeds. Helen Clark called the Greens "goths and anarcho-feminists" during the campaign.

On 12 June the government announced that the country would have a general election on 27 July. This was several months earlier than was required, a fact which caused considerable comment. The Prime Minister, Helen Clark, claimed that an early poll was necessary due to the collapse of her junior coalition partner, the Alliance. Critics, however, claimed that Clark could have continued to govern, and that the early election was called to take advantage of Labour's strong position in the polls.^[1] Some commentators believe that a mixture of these factors was responsible.

Before the election, the Labour Party held 49 seats in parliament. It governed in coalition with the smaller (and more left-wing) Alliance, which had 10 seats. It also relied on support from the Greens, but this was a largely informal arrangement, and the Greens were not a part of the administration itself. Opposing Labour were the National Party (centre-right), United Future (centrist), New Zealand First (populist), ACT New Zealand (free-market). Many opinion polls for the election indicated that Labour was popular enough to conceivably win an absolute majority, leaving it able to govern without the support of smaller parties. Labour's dominance over National was such that for many people, the question was not whether Labour would win, but whether Labour would receive the absolute majority it sought.

There were 2,670,030 registered voters, the highest number for any election in New Zealand. However, only 77% of these registered voters chose to cast a vote, a considerable drop from previous elections. Many commentators cited Labour's dominance in the polls as a reason for this low turnout. Many people saw the outcome as inevitable, and so did not bother to vote at all.

In the election 683 candidates stood, and there were 14 registered parties with party lists. Of the candidates, 433 were electorate and list, 160 were electorate only, and 90 were list only. 71% of candidates (487) were male and 29% (196) female.^[2][3]

As most people expected, Labour was victorious. It did not, however, receive an absolute majority, gaining only 52 seats (eight seats short of the half-way mark). Labour's former coalition partner, the Alliance (which had splintered shortly before the election), was not returned to parliament. However, the new Progressive Coalition (now the Progressive Party) started by former Alliance leader Jim Anderton won two seats, and remained allied with Labour. The Greens, who were now distanced from Labour over the genetic engineering controversy, gained nine seats (an increase of two).

In general, it was a bad election for the parties of the right. The National Party, once referred to as "the natural party of government", suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat, gaining only 21% of the vote. ACT New Zealand, National's more right-wing neighbour, failed to capitalise on the exodus of National supporters, retaining the same number of seats as before. Instead, the most notable gains among opposition parties were made by two centrist parties. One of these was Winston Peters's New Zealand First, a populist and nationalist party opposed to immigration. Strong campaigning by Peters allowed the party to recover from its serious losses in the 1999 election. The other was United Future New Zealand party, a centrist party based on a merger of the United Party and the Future New Zealand party – primarily due to the performance of leader Peter Dunne, the party shot from having one seat to having eight seats.

Once the final distribution of seats was determined, it was clear that Labour would be at the centre of the government, and that it would be allied with the Progressives. However, this still left Labour needing support in matters of confidence and supply, as the two parties together fell short of an absolute majority. Labour expressed a preference for an "agreement" rather than a full coalition, hoping to establish an arrangement similar to the one that existed with the Greens prior to the election. Three realistic choices existed for a partner – the Greens, United Future, and New Zealand First. Labour had repeatedly ruled out deals with New Zealand First during the election campaign, and reaffirmed this soon after the election, leaving just the Greens and United Future as candidates. After a period of negotiation, Labour opted to ally with United Future, being unwilling to change their genetic engineering policies to secure the Green Party's support.

Labour and the Progressives remained in power, with support in confidence and supply votes from United Future.