Final results for the Botany by-election are in, meaning winning candidate National's Jami-Lee Ross will soon be able to be sworn in as an MP.
The by-election was held on March 5 after sitting National MP Pansy Wong resigned and the Electoral Commission today released official results.
Mr Ross's final vote tally was 8352. He got 8150 votes in the preliminary count. His final majority was 3972 votes, a drop of 24.
Labour's Michael Wood got 4380 votes (4154 on by-election night), with New Citizen Party candidate Paul Young getting 1626 (1572) and ACT candidate Lyn Murphy 687 (671).
While 42,960 people were enrolled, only 15,655 or 36.44 percent voted. There were 2227 advance votes, and 741 special votes, including 19 overseas votes.
The Electoral Commission will return the writ showing the successful candidate on Tuesday if there are no recounts.
Mr Ross, in a statement, welcomed the formal count result and said historically it was significant for a Government candidate to hold their share of the vote in a by-election.
"You have to go back 30-odd years to find a similar result."
Mr Ross hopes to be sworn in next week.
NZPA
source: newshub archive
