a little loose conversation - it's not all over, red rover

Here is the Electoral Commission official count, pre-specials.

Seat-wise, it currently falls out to:

Labour 50 (down 1)
National 49 (up 22)
NZ First 7 (down 6)
Greens 6 (down 3)
Maori 4 (up 3)
United 3 (down 5)
Act 2 (down 7)
Progs 1 (down 1)
(Overhang of 2, due to Maori Party)

2002 results here.

Special votes are 193,000-odd according to the EC website, but TV3 have been saying 218,000, not sure where they have that number from. The difference between Nat and Lab could tighten or widen, Greens could go down below the threshold or up another seat, and Matt Robson might sneak back in.

Phew, what a night! And it's not really over for some time to come, but finished enough to get some sleep and worry about it in th emorning - because Tommorow Is Another Day.