46th New Zealand Parliament
Introduction


The **46th New Zealand Parliament** was a term of the [New Zealand Parliament](/wiki/New_Zealand_Parliament "New Zealand Parliament"). Its composition was determined by the [1999 election](/wiki/1999_New_Zealand_general_election "1999 New Zealand general election"), and it sat until the [2002 election](/wiki/2002_New_Zealand_general_election "2002 New Zealand general election").

The 46th Parliament marked a change of government, with a coalition of the [Labour Party](/wiki/New_Zealand_Labour_Party "New Zealand Labour Party") and the [Alliance](/wiki/Alliance_%28New_Zealand_political_party%29 "Alliance (New Zealand political party)") taking office. [Helen Clark](/wiki/Helen_Clark "Helen Clark") replaced [Jenny Shipley](/wiki/Jenny_Shipley "Jenny Shipley") as [Prime Minister](/wiki/Prime_Minister_of_New_Zealand "Prime Minister of New Zealand"). The [National Party](/wiki/New_Zealand_National_Party "New Zealand National Party"), which had formed a [minority government](/wiki/Minority_government "Minority government") for the last part of the [45th Parliament](/wiki/45th_New_Zealand_Parliament "45th New Zealand Parliament"), became the largest opposition party, eventually emerging under a new leader, [Bill English](/wiki/Bill_English "Bill English"). Other parties in Parliament were [ACT](/wiki/ACT_New_Zealand "ACT New Zealand"), the [Greens](/wiki/Green_Party_of_Aotearoa_New_Zealand "Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand"), [New Zealand First](/wiki/New_Zealand_First "New Zealand First"), and [United](/wiki/United_New_Zealand "United New Zealand"). Several parties represented at the end of the previous Parliament, such as [Mauri Pacific](/wiki/Mauri_Pacific "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](/wiki/M%C4%81ori_electorates "Māori electorates"). The remainder were elected by means of [party\-list proportional representation](/wiki/Party-list_proportional_representation "Party-list proportional representation") under the [Mixed Member Proportional](/wiki/Mixed-member_proportional_representation "Mixed-member proportional representation") (MMP) electoral system.


What was the composition of the 46th Parliament in terms of geographical electorates and party-list proportional representation?