National has lost a seat but still has the numbers to govern with the final results of the general election confirmed.



Chief electoral officer Robert Peden this afternoon announced four changes to the results on election night.



National loses a seat and falls to 59, the Green Party gains a seat and will have 14 MPs. In the two tight electoral races, Labour's Brendon Burns has lost Christchurch Central to National's Nicky Wagner by 45 votes and Labour's Carmel Sepuloni takes Waitakere off Cabinet Minister Paula Bennett by just 11 votes.

"It's official, it's official, it's official…we won" Wagner shouted with delight to a small gathering of supporters at her home this afternoon as she read a text confirming she had won the seat for Christchurch Central.

Bennett's loss in Waitakere is a blow for the high profile candidate who is tipped to climb the Cabinet rankings. She still makes it in to Parliament as a National Party list MP, but said she will be asking for a recount.

JOHN CHAPMAN CARMEL SEPULONI: Wins Waitakere seat by a margin.

Speaking from her office, Bennett said she owed it to her Waitakere voters to check the results.

"Yes I expect we will ask for a recount...It is so close we owe it to ourselves and those who did vote for us."

Bennett said she will push for the recount as soon as possible and hoped to have a result before Christmas.

KIRK HARGREAVES WINNER: National candidate for Christchurch Central Nicky Wagner finally hears that she has the seat over Labour's Brendon Burns.

She said it had been an anxious wait for results and the result was tighter than she had imagined.

"Eleven votes is a bit closer than I thought it would be but it is what it is and I am just dealing my way with that today."

Prime Minister John Key comfirmed this sentiment. "We are disappointed to have lost Waitakere by a very narrow margin of 11 votes, it is the party's intention to follow that up with a judicial review and we will be following that up early next week," he said.

Sepuloni's win means Auckland-based list MP Raymond Huo will drop out of Parliament.

Huo said he was now departing Parliament with a strong feeling of "unfinished business".

While disappointed at missing out, he said he was keen to make a rapid return to Parliament should one of his higher-ranked Labour Party list members quit politics during the current term.

"I am willing, ready and able,” he said.

The dip in support for National means Aaron Gilmore drops out of Parliament.

In Christchurch, Burns' one term as the local MP is over as he falls victim to a swing to National in the earthquake-hit region.

Burns said he was bitterly disappointed to have lost the seat but challenged claims it was a safe Labour seat, saying boundary changes meant it had been a marginal seat since the late 1990s.

While Burns plans on seeking a judicial recount, he holds little hope that it will put him back into Parliament.

The former journalist and newspaper editor said this afternoon that he had not made any decisions about his future.

The last year, dealing with the aftermath of the Canterbury quakes, had been exhausting and Burns said his tank was "running on empty''.

General Secretary Chris Flatt confirmed the party would seek a judical recount,after the final count in Christchurch Central had seen incumbent Burns miss out by "a mere" 45 votes.



“With such a small margin, the Labour Party will take the necessary steps to begin the process of a formal recount of the Christchurch central electorate vote," Flatt said.



“But for now, today belongs to Carmel Sepuloni and her Labour team in Waitakere who fought a hard battle on the ground which has brought about a great victory for Labour."

The Green Party result got better from election night, with a party vote of 11.06 per cent providing a ticket in to the House for the first ever profoundly deaf MP, Mojo Mathers.

Green Party co-leader Russel Norman said Mojo Mathers' rise to Parliament was "great".

"It means that another talented Green Party MP will enter Parliament," he said.

Mathers' elevation means the Greens will now have a record 14 MPs in the current political term.

Mathers said she hoped her entry in Parliament would be an inspiration for other people with physical or mental disabilities.

"There are many barriers to democratic participation for disabled people,” she said.

"I hope my presence in Parliament will result in improved accessibility and access to political information for everyone, including those with a hearing impairment."

National, having signed confidence and supply agreements with Act and United Future, has a single vote majority of 61 seats in a 121 seat Parliament. It may yet to grow its support by three in a deal with the Maori Party that is yet to be signed.



MMP is also confirmed as the voting system in the final results of the referendum also held on November 26. Some 57.77 per cent backed MMP and in part two 46.66 per cent supported FPP as the most preferred alternative.



The majority support for MMP means the system stays but a review of the system is triggered.



Peden said all votes on election night had been recounted and special votes checked for validity. Candidates seeking a recount had until Wednesday to make an application.





FINAL RESULTS:



National: 47.31 per cent - 59 seats

Labour: 27.48 per cent - 34 seats

Green: 11.06 per cent - 14 seats

NZ First: 6.59 per cent - 8 seats

Maori Party: 1.43 per cent - 3 seats

Mana Party: 1.08 per cent - 1 seat

Act Party: 1.07 per cent - 1 seat

United Future: 0.6 per cent - 1 seat





COMPARED WITH 2008:



* National's proportion of the vote at 47.31 per cent grew from

44.93 per cent in 2008. National gains one seat.



* Labour's vote, at 27.48 per cent, dropped from 33.99 per cent in 2008. Its share of seats in the House falls from 43 to 34.



* The Greens scored only 6.72 per cent in 2008 so at 11.06 per cent its seat allocation grows from nine to 14.



* New Zealand First got 4.07 per cent in 2008 and no MPs. This time around, it secured 6.59 per cent of the party vote and gets eight MPs.



* Act's vote dropped from 3.65 per cent in 2008 down to 1.07 per cent, meaning it goes from five MPs to one - John Banks who was elected in Epsom.



* The Maori Party won five electorate seats in 2008 but lost its Te Tai Tonga seat on election night and earlier shed the defecting Hone Harawira in Te Tai Tokerau. Its share of the party vote has also dropped from 2.39 per cent in 2008, down to 1.43 per cent in 2011.

But it holds on to three Maori electorate seats.



* The party vote for United Future dropped from 0.87 per cent down to

0.6 per cent, but leader Peter Dunne held his Ohariu seat so the party stays on with a solitary seat.



* The Mana Party did not exist in 2008, but scores a seat in 2011 via Hone Harawira in Te Tai Tokerau. With 1.08 per cent of the party vote, Harawira is the sole MP for Mana.



* Jim Anderton's Progressive Party disappears altogether after Anderton retired from Parliament.

- Fairfax NZ