Rachel Boyack will remain Nelson's MP with final results showing she's taken the seat by just 29 votes after all special votes have been counted.
In Tasman, National's Maureen Pugh managed to hold on to her Election Day lead, claiming the seat from Labour's long-standing incumbent Damien O'Connor.
And in Te Tai Tonga, Te Pāti Māori’s Tākuta Ferris comfortably retained his lead over Labour’s Rino Tirikatene who had held the electorate for four terms.
Election results have been finalised with the counting of the special votes now complete.
Both the Nelson and the West Coast-Tasman races were neck-and-neck at various points of Election Day with the Nelson electorate still too close to call on Election Day 2023.
Rachel Boyack says she is delighted to have been returned to Parliament as Nelson's MP.
“It is the privilege of my life to be the MP for Nelson and I'm looking forward to continuing my work as a strong advocate for the Nelson region.”
“I note that with a small margin there is the possibility of my opponent seeking a recount, and I will make further comment once there is a certainty around a potential recount.”
National's Blair Cameron finished Election night on October 14 with a tiny 54-vote lead over Labour MP Rachel Boyack.
However, after votes being finalised on Friday, Rachel reclaimed the seat by just 29 votes.
Rachel said at the time that special votes added 1000 votes to her total in 2020 so refused to concede on Election Day.
Speaking after the final results came out, Rachel says that the past three weeks have been a "nerve-wracking" time.
"Being that close when you just don’t know what will happen – that’s tough.”
Commenting on her reclaimed electorate, she thought it was wrong to describe Nelson as a National seat.
"My reflection on this seat is that it was a Nick Smith seat. My goal is now to make it a Rachel Boyack seat," she says.
"I do want to make sure we pull up our Labour Party vote here in the future and I acknowledge that we have lost some Labour Party support here in Nelson. We need to reflect on why that is and do some work to rebuild some of that support.”
National's Blair Cameron said at the time he was positive of a win thanks to special votes.
“The mood in the room tonight has been really good, amazing group of people, huge amount of support, and still very enthusiastic about things.”
When asked how he found the campaign, Blair said: "Awesome, I ran a super fun, energetic campaign, I enjoyed almost every minute of it and I had an amazing team of volunteers helping me. The enthusiasm from everyone in Nelson was awesome.”
New West Coast-Tasman MP Maureen Pugh says she it was a "relief" to finally have the closure supplied by the special votes.
"I’m very grateful for the confidence that the electorate has placed in me and very aware of the obligation I have now to deliver the change that the country was looking for."
She says she has spent the last few weeks helping to lay the groundwork ahead of the new government's formation.
"Now that we’ve got a few ducks lined up, we’ll be ready to hit the road running.”
West Coast-Tasman runner-up, Labour's Damien O'Connor says he didn't expect the special votes to deliver a result that differed from the election night indication.
"The electors have voted and we’ve now got to get on with opposition," he says.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do, rebuilding the party, and forming a credible and formal opposition.”
Damien will now serve as a list MP after failing to secure his fifth consecutive win for the electorate.
Reminder of 2020:
Rachel Boyack (Labour) won Nelson with 18,625 votes over Nick Smith’s (National) 15,048 votes.
Damien O’Connor (Labour) won West Coast-Tasman with 18,275 votes over Maureen Pugh (National) with 13,208.
Rino Tirikatene (Labour) won the Te Tai Tonga electrate.
