Just 81 votes separate Hamilton East rivals as three tight races keep election night on edge

Hamilton East and Wellington Bays are approaching the end of their election-night counts with narrow margins, while Mt Roskill has considerably more results to come.

By Webfit News | 7 November 2026
Election-night update, 10.54pm

An 81-vote lead in Hamilton East. A 121-vote gap in Wellington Bays. Just 197 votes separating the leading candidates in Mt Roskill.

At 10.54pm, these three electorate contests were giving New Zealanders good reason to keep watching the preliminary count. National led two and Labour led one, but the margins left each race open to change.

The important difference was how far each count had progressed. Hamilton East and Wellington Bays had more than 90 percent of voting places reporting. Mt Roskill was at 68 percent, leaving substantially more results outstanding.

Hamilton East comes down to an 81-vote margin

National’s Ryan Hamilton had 13,130 votes, just ahead of Labour’s Georgie Dansey on 13,049, with 91.7 percent of voting places reporting.

The gap amounted to less than one-third of one percent of the votes recorded for the two leading candidates combined.

That gives Hamilton a lead to defend, but little breathing room. A relatively small difference between the candidates in the remaining results could put Dansey ahead.

With most voting places already reporting, every fresh update carries greater weight. The candidates are approaching the end of the election-night count separated by a margin small enough to leave both campaigns watching closely.

Wellington Bays delivers a Labour–Green contest

In Wellington Bays, Labour’s Craig Renney led with 14,573 votes, followed by the Greens’ Julie Anne Genter on 14,452.

That put Renney 121 votes ahead, with 90.5 percent of voting places reporting.

This contest has a different political character from the other two. The immediate fight for the electorate is between Labour and the Greens, giving voters a close contest within the political left.

Renney held the advantage at this snapshot, but Genter remained within reach. With fewer than one in ten voting places still to report, the next batches could prove decisive for the election-night lead.

Mt Roskill has the most counting still ahead

National’s Carlos Cheung had 11,712 votes in Mt Roskill, ahead of Labour’s Michael Philip Wood on 11,515.

Cheung’s 197-vote lead was the largest of the three margins, but only 68 percent of voting places were reporting.

That makes Mt Roskill harder to read from the headline margin alone. Nearly a third of voting places had yet to report, leaving more opportunity for the gap to widen, narrow or reverse.

The size and voting patterns of those outstanding places will matter. The percentage of voting places reporting does not tell readers exactly what proportion of votes remains uncounted.

Across all three seats, the numbers describe a moment in a moving count. Hamilton, Renney and Cheung held narrow advantages at 10.54pm. Each still had a contest to finish.

Figures are from the Webfit News results dashboard snapshot at 10.54pm. All results are preliminary and subject to remaining votes and the official count.