2020 New Zealand general election facts for kids

The 2020 New Zealand general election was a big event where people in New Zealand voted for their leaders. This election happened on Saturday, 17 October 2020.

Before this election, the Labour Party, led by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, was in charge. They worked with another party called New Zealand First to form the government.

In the 2020 election, Prime Minister Ardern was voted back in, and her Labour Party won a huge number of votes. This is often called a "landslide victory" because they won by a very large amount!

Who Were the Main Leaders?

• 

  Prime Minister
  Jacinda Ardern
  (Labour Party)
  from Mount Albert

• 

  Deputy Prime Minister
  Winston Peters
  (NZ First)
  from Northland

• 

  Members of Parliament
  James Shaw and Marama Davidson
  (Green Party)
  for List

• 

  Member of Parliament
  David Seymour
  (ACT)
  from Epsom

Many people wanted to become a Member of Parliament (MP) in this election. Here are some of the main leaders from different political parties:

• Jacinda Ardern was the Prime Minister and leader of the Labour Party. She was hoping to be re-elected.
• Winston Peters was the leader of the New Zealand First party and the Deputy Prime Minister before the election.
• James Shaw and Marama Davidson were co-leaders of the Green Party.
• David Seymour was the leader of the ACT Party.

How Voting Areas Change

Before an election, the voting areas, called "electorate boundaries," are sometimes redrawn. This happens after a big count of the population, like the 2018 census. This means that the 2020 election was the first to use these updated voting areas.

What Did Opinion Polls Show?

Opinion polls before the 2020 election

Before an election, groups often ask people who they plan to vote for. This is called "opinion polling." It helps to guess which party might win. The polls for the 2020 election showed that the Labour Party was very popular.

Images for kids

• 

  Governor-General Dame Patsy Reddy (right) issues the writ for the election before the chief electoral officer, Alicia Wright (left), on 13 September 2020.

• 

  Election hoardings lining the Dunedin Northern Motorway, August 2020

See also

In Spanish: Elecciones generales de Nueva Zelanda de 2020 para niños