New Zealand general election, 1990

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27 October 1990

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All 97 seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives
49 seats were needed for a majority

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Jim Bolger	Mike Moore	Jim Anderton
Party	National	Labour	NewLabour
Leader since	1986	1990	1989
Leader's seat	King Country	Christchurch North	Sydenham
Last election	40 seats, 44.02%	57 seats, 47.96%	New party
Seats won	67	29	1
Seat change	27	28	1
Popular vote	872,358	640,915	94,171
Percentage	47.82%	35.14%	5.16%
Swing	3.80%	12.82%	5.16%

Prime Minister before election

Mike Moore
Labour

Subsequent Prime Minister

Jim Bolger
National

Mike Moore
Labour

Jim Bolger
National

The 1990 New Zealand general election was held on 27 October to determine the composition of the 43rd New Zealand parliament. The governing Labour Party was defeated, ending its controversial two terms in office. The National Party, led by Jim Bolger, won a landslide victory and formed the new government.

The Labour Party had taken office after defeating the National Party under Robert Muldoon in the 1984 election. David Lange became Prime Minister and Roger Douglas became Minister of Finance. The economic program outlined by Douglas was deeply unpopular with Labour's traditional supporters, however — deregulation, privatisation, and free trade, all opposed by the party's more left-wing members, were a key part of the so-called "Rogernomics" platform. This internal dissent was off-set somewhat by new social legislation and a strong stance against nuclear weapons.

Labour was re-elected in the 1987 election with its parliamentary majority untouched, but the internal disputes continued. Eventually Lange forced Douglas to resign in December 1988, but the crisis had weakened Lange's position such that he resigned eight months later. He was replaced as Prime Minister by Geoffrey Palmer, but Palmer failed to revive Labour's falling popularity. Several months before the election, Palmer was replaced by Mike Moore. The National Party was performing strongly — its leader, Jim Bolger, spoke repeatedly of "the Decent Society", saying that the reforms were doing significant damage to the social fabric of the country. The government was also being challenged by the NewLabour Party, founded by renegade MP Jim Anderton.

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