45th New Zealand Parliament

45th Parliament of New Zealand
← 44th Parliament 46th Parliament →
Parliament House, Wellington
Overview
Legislative body	New Zealand Parliament
Term	12 December 1996 – 5 October 1999
Election	1996 New Zealand general election
Government	Fourth National Government
House of Representatives
Members	120
Speaker of the House	Doug Kidd
Leader of the House	Roger Sowry — Wyatt Creech until 31 August 1998
Prime Minister	Jenny Shipley — Jim Bolger until 8 December 1997
Leader of the Opposition	Helen Clark
Sovereign
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor-General	Michael Hardie Boys

The 45th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. Its composition was determined by the 1996 election, and it sat until the 1999 election.

The 45th Parliament was notable in that it was the first to be elected under the new MMP electoral system, a form of proportional representation. It was also notable for the fact that it was the first New Zealand Parliament to have an Asian person, Pansy Wong, elected to it. The difference between the 45th Parliament and its predecessor were considerable — the 44th Parliament had opened with only four seats being held by minor parties, but at the opening of the 45th Parliament, minor parties held thirty-nine seats. Because of the considerably altered balance of power in Parliament, neither of the two major parties could govern alone, and New Zealand First, the largest of the four other parties in Parliament, was put in the position of "kingmaker". In the end, New Zealand First opted for a coalition with the National Party which had governed in the previous Parliament, marking the first coalition government in New Zealand for over half a century.^[1] The Labour Party continued in Opposition.

The 45th Parliament consisted of one hundred and twenty representatives. Sixty-five of these representatives were chosen by geographical electorates, including five special Maori electorates. The remainder were elected by means of party-list proportional representation under the MMP electoral system.