46th New Zealand Parliament

46th Parliament of New Zealand
← 45th Parliament 47th Parliament →
Parliament House, Wellington
Overview
Legislative body	New Zealand Parliament
Term	20 December 1999 – 11 June 2002
Election	1999 New Zealand general election
Government	Fifth Labour Government
House of Representatives
Members	120
Speaker of the House	Jonathan Hunt
Leader of the House	Michael Cullen
Prime Minister	Helen Clark
Leader of the Opposition	Bill English ––Jenny Shipley until 8 October 2001
Sovereign
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor-General	Silvia Cartwright from 4 April 2001 ––Michael Hardie Boys until 21 March 2001

The 46th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the New Zealand Parliament. Its composition was determined by the 1999 election, and it sat until the 2002 election.

The 46th Parliament marked a change of government, with a coalition of the Labour Party and the Alliance taking office. Helen Clark replaced Jenny Shipley as Prime Minister. The National Party, which had formed a minority government for the last part of the 45th Parliament, became the largest opposition party, eventually emerging under a new leader, Bill English. Other parties in Parliament were ACT, the Greens, New Zealand First, and United. Several parties represented at the end of the previous Parliament, such as Mauri Pacific, were wiped out, failing to retain any of their seats.

The 46th Parliament consisted of one hundred and twenty representatives. Sixty-seven of these representatives were chosen by geographical electorates, including six Māori electorates. The remainder were elected by means of party-list proportional representation under the Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system.

Electoral boundaries for the 46th Parliament

Overview of seats

The table below shows the number of MPs in each party following the 1999 election and at dissolution:

Affiliation		Members
		At 1999 election	At dissolution
	Labour	49	49
	Alliance	10	10
	Green CS	7	7
Government total		66	66
	National	39	39
	ACT	9	9
	NZ First	5	5
	United NZ	1	1
Opposition total		54	54
Total		120	120
Working Government majority		12	12

Notes

• The Working Government majority is calculated as all Government MPs less all other parties.
• ^CS The Green Party entered a confidence and supply agreement with the Labour-Alliance coalition

Changes during term

There were no by-elections held during the term of the 46th Parliament.

• Don McKinnon, a National Party list MP, left Parliament in March 2000 to become Secretary-General of the Commonwealth. He was replaced by Arthur Anae, the next candidate on the National Party list.
• Simon Upton, a National Party list MP, left Parliament in January 2001. He was replaced by Alec Neill, the next candidate on the National Party list.