In percentage terms, the NZ Parliament has the most LGBT representation of any nationally elected body, although the number could change on special votes.
After Saturday’s election, there will likely be eleven self-identified members of the New Zealand Parliament who identify as LGBT.
This will be an increase from the seven current LGBT MPs who have all been returned by ether their electorates or via their party lists.
All eleven will be from the Labour Party or from the Greens.
Labour now has nine LGBTQ+ representatives and the Greens have four – both parties increasing by two since the last election.
None of National’s 35 members in Parliament identify as part of the rainbow community, while ACT will not return any LGBT representatives ether from it’s now 10 MPs.
Labour is guaranteed to return nine rainbow MPs, while the Greens will have to wait for special votes to be counted to determine if the last two likely MPs (who are both from the rainbow community will be returned)
Special votes – which can be returned and counted up to 10 days after election day – mean that the number of LGBTQ+ representations at the House of Representatives could still change.
If the Green Party lose its number nine and ten seats, currently held by rainbow members Elizabeth Kerekere and Ricardo Menéndez March, Parliament’s current LGBT representation will be 11, rather than 13.
However, history shows the Greens will likely keep the pair. After special votes were counted in 2017, National lost two seats, Labour lost one, and the Greens picked up two.
