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Live Reporting Edited by Helen Livingstone with reporting from Tiffanie Turnbull in Wellington A peaceful day in the New Zealand capital published at 03:59 GMT Tiffanie Turnbull Reporting from Wellington Hello from Wellington where the weather has been typically grey and blustery but the sun is beginning to peek out. It’s a quiet day here - unless you knew better you wouldn’t guess it’s election day! Laws here mean voters are largely left in peace as they visit the ballot box - no last minute campaigning, no signs begging for votes, and no media scrums jostling for their two cents as they leave.
But when polls close in about two hours, there’ll be a flurry of activity. Stay with us and we bring you updates throughout the evening! Why can't we say anything about candidates? published at 03:48 GMT New Zealand has strict regulations around what can be reported on election day - there's a ban on anything that could be considered campaigning or advertising for a party.
The rules are "really a throwback to the Victorian era," says Andrew Geddis, a professor and expert on election law at the University of Otago, and mirror the UK's election laws. "There was an effort to really control how people behaved on election day, trying to remove any form of pageantry or excitement on the day and essentially try to turn it into an experience like going to church." The idea was that people arrived at the polling station "with a sober mind to deliberate on who to vote for with no sort of external pressure on you to try to influence you". Election day: What you can and can't do published at 03:27 GMT Image source, Getty Images New Zealand has some of the strictest election day rules in the world.
From midnight until voting closes at 7pm, campaigning of any kind is banned - including any posts on social media. You're also not allowed to display any campaign signs or show anyone how you voted. Even offering food or drinks within 100m of a voting place entrance is banned.
What you are allowed to do is to tell people you've voted, or encourage people to vote in general. You're also allowed to represent the party you support in a small way - like wearing a party lapel badge or rosette, though these must not have any candidate's name on them. Welcome to our live coverage published at 03:12 GMT Image source, Getty Images Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the 2026 New Zealand general election.
Voting began today at 09:00 local time (20:00GMT) and booths will close at 19:00 local time. However, polls have actually been already open for two weeks and local media estimate that a quarter of eligible voters have already cast their ballot. Nearly 3.8 million people have registered to vote.
We will be bringing you live updates through polling to results - stay with us.
Source: BBC
