New Zealand's Parliament normally has 120 MPs. On the preliminary 2026 results it has 131, RNZ reported, because of 11 overhang seats. That would be the largest Parliament since MMP began, well past the 123 seats in the last term.
It also changes the maths of forming a government. With 131 seats, a majority is 66, not 61.
Two votes, two jobs
Under MMP every voter gets two votes. The electorate vote picks a local MP. The party vote decides how many seats each party gets in total.
Electorate winners take their seats first. Parties that win at least 5 percent of the party vote, or at least one electorate, are then topped up with list MPs until their share of seats matches their share of the party vote. The Electoral Commission's example, quoted by RNZ: a party with 30 percent of the party vote should end up with about 36 seats in a 120-seat Parliament.
So where does an overhang come from?
Sometimes a party wins more electorates than its party vote entitles it to. It keeps those electorate seats anyway. To keep everyone else's share fair, Parliament grows instead of other parties losing seats.
Constitutional and electoral law expert Graeme Edgeler put it this way to RNZ: if a party "wins four electorates, but its party vote would only give it two seats, those extra two seats are overhang".
New Zealand has had overhangs after the 2005, 2008, 2011, 2014 and 2023 elections. Until now they have been small.
What happened this time
Two parties created this year's overhang, according to RNZ.
National won 42 electorates. Its party vote, about 29.2 percent on the preliminary count, would earn it about 35 seats. RNZ's analysis puts National's share of the overhang at seven seats. It also means National has no list MPs at all, which RNZ says is a first for a major party under MMP. That is why list-only candidates such as Finance Minister Nicola Willis are not projected to return on the preliminary count.
Te Pāti Māori won five electorates with 0.6 percent of the party vote, which would earn it about one seat. RNZ puts its share of the overhang at four. Before the election the party told voters to focus on the electorate vote in the Māori seats.
Add those 11 seats to the base 120 and you get 131.
Why the number may still change
The overhang depends on both the electorate results and the final party vote, and neither is final until special votes are counted. The Electoral Commission expects official results on 27 November.
RNZ counted six electorates with margins under 1000 votes on election night. If National loses one of those, its seat total falls and the overhang shrinks with it. A smaller Parliament also lowers the number needed for a majority. The current coalition's preliminary total of 67 seats is one more than it needs.
Is anyone trying to change the rule?
A 2012 review of MMP recommended removing overhang seats, but it was never acted on, RNZ reported. Germany abolished overhangs in 2023 after its parliament grew sharply.
Before the election, the New Zealand Initiative's Oliver Hartwich warned that deliberate vote-splitting could exploit the rule. New Zealand First leader Winston Peters called Te Pāti Māori's strategy a "disgrace". Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rāwiri Waititi defended it as the party "making a sacrifice". Expect the argument to come back once the final numbers are in.
Does a bigger Parliament change how it works?
David Wilson, Clerk of the House, told RNZ the debating chamber had seats for 123 MPs and would need reorganising for more, and that a larger House could put pressure on the Parliamentary Service budget. The time set aside for business in the House does not change.
For the full preliminary seat count, see our election results story. If you want to check the numbers yourself, the Electoral Commission has an online seat allocation calculator.
