Electorate races: Greens, ACT on verge of taking key seats

The Greens and ACT have flipped two electorate seats long held by the bigger parties, in a jubilant victory for both, whilst TOP's attempt to claim to Ilam fails.

Labour's vote has collapsed, including in some of its traditional strongholds — predominantly in Auckland — with several close races in traditionally safe seats.

Supporters of the smaller parties will be happy tonight as they gain on the number of party votes they received in the last election.

As of 11pm, the Greens had increased their vote share by about 3%, while ACT had increased its vote share by about 1%.

The Greens had strongly pushed its electorate campaigns in Auckland Central, Wellington Central, Rongotai, and Mt Albert this year, while ACT focused its efforts on Tāmaki.

Several "safe" Labour electorates featured leads for National candidates with more than a third of votes counted. These electorates were predominantly in Auckland.

In Mt Roskill, an electorate never won by National, incumbent MP Michael Wood appears to have lost his seat to National's Carlos Cheung.

With 83% of the vote counted, Cheung leads Wood by nearly 1500 votes. The National candidate holds around 11,300 to the former Labour minister's 9800. The Greens' Suveen Sanis Walgampola has around 1900 votes and ACT's Rahul Chopra has 1494 votes.

Meanwhile, in New Lynn, the Labour incumbent Deborah Russell was behind National's Paulo Garcia by about 900 votes with nearly 80% of the vote counted.

Russell holds about 9700 votes to Garcia's 10,500. The Greens' Steve Abel has about 3000 votes and ACT's Juan Alvarez De Lugo is on around 1500. Like Mt Roskill, New Lynn has never been won by a National candidate before.

In Te Atatū, long-time Labour incumbent Phil Twyford was around 180 votes behind National's Angee Nicholas. The Greens' Zooey Neumann was on around 2300 votes, while ACT's Simon Court was on about 1900 votes.

The electorate has not been held by a National MP since 1990.

In Pōneke, the Greens' Tamatha Paul has turned Wellington Central green — a seat held for decades by Labour. It comes as Chlöe Swarbrick has also kept her electorate seat Green in Auckland Central.

With nearly 90% of the vote counted, she was around 3000 votes ahead of both Labour's Ibrahim Omer, an incumbent list MP, and National's Scott Sheeran.

Paul, 26, has been a city councillor for Pukehīnau Lambton Ward since 2019. Greens co-leader James Shaw stepped aside to allow Paul to contest a race he has long competed.

The Wellington Central seat was last held by senior Labour MP Grant Robertson, who has gone list-only at this election.

Aside from a blip with ACT's Richard Prebble in 1996, the seat has been a red stronghold for decades, with Grant Robertson holding the electorate since 1978.

Meanwhile in Auckland, ACT deputy leader Brooke Van Velden now holds a substantial lead over the National incumbent Simon O'Connor in the Tāmaki electorate.

With around 92% of the vote counted, Van Velden held an over-4000 vote lead over O'Connor. Labour's candidate, Fesaitu Solomone, was well behind.

Since its inception in 1946, the Tāmaki electorate has been held by National for all but two terms and was the seat of former Prime Minister Robert Muldoon for 31 years.

It's also been held by O'Connor since 2011, who retained the seat in 2020 with a 52.7% share of the vote - a significant hold in the face of a nationwide red wave.

The Opportunities Party (TOP) bet its chances on winning the Christchurch seat of Ilam, but National has held the seat with a substantial margin.

Party leader Raj Manji suggested earlier this week that he believed the major parties were paving the way for his campaign effort.

With 94% of the votes counted, National's Hamish Campbell held a 6500-vote lead over Manji. The TOP leader was holding around 8000 votes to Campbell's 15,000.

Labour's Sarah Pallett, the incumbent, holds 7200 votes.

The Greens' Julie Anne Genter appears to be pulling away from her Labour contender in Rongotai — potentially giving her party its third electorate seat at this election.

Since its establishment in 1996, the Wellington seat has been held by Labour, but that record appears to now be in contention.

With 75% of the vote counted, Genter had a lead of nearly 800 votes over her competitors — Labour's Fleur Fitzsimons and National's Karunā Muthu. Genter currently holds around 8800 votes whilst Fitzsimons is on about 8000 to Muthu's 5500

Genter has been in Parliament since 2011 as a list MP.

The Rongotai seat is currently held by Labour's Paul Eagle, who is retiring from Parliament. He unsuccessfully ran for Wellington mayoralty last year.