[1] Voters elected 121 members to the House of Representatives, with 71 from single-member electorates (an increase from 70 in 2011)[2] and 49 from party lists.

The Commission released a consultation paper in February 2012 calling for public submissions on ways to improve the MMP system, with the focus put on six areas: The Commission released a proposal paper for consultation in August 2012 and published its final report on 29 October 2012.

In the report, the Commission recommended the following:[13] Parliament has the right to decide whether to implement any changes to the system, which had been largely unchanged since it was introduced in 1994 for the 1996 election.

[14] In May 2014 Judith Collins and John Key announced that no inter-party consensus existed on implementing the recommendations of the Commission, so the Government would not introduce any legislation.

[16] On 31 May 2013, the Electoral Commission de-registered United Future after it could not prove it had the 500 financial members required for registration.

The party successfully re-registered on 13 August 2013, but in the interim its sole MP, Peter Dunne, sat in the house as an independent.

On 13 June 2014, ACT's sole MP John Banks resigned from Parliament after being found guilty of filing a false electoral return for his 2010 Auckland mayoral campaign.

On 10 March 2014, Prime Minister John Key announced that the election would take place on Saturday 20 September 2014.

In October 2013, Prime Minister John Key hinted that the election would take place before November.

Kelston centres on the western Auckland suburb of the same name, stretching from Oratia to Waterview, and was predicted to be a safe Labour seat.

Helensville's over-quota has been solved by the creation of the Upper Harbour electorate, while Hunua has lost the area south of the Auckland Region boundary to Waikato to bring it within quota.

The loss of Labour-leaning urban parts of Waimakariri made it a safer seat for National, which increased it majority from 642 votes in 2011 to 2,133 in 2014.

Non-registered parties contending the election include: Independents are standing in Botany, Dunedin North (×2), Epsom (×4), Helensville (×2), Hutt South, Mount Albert, Northland, Ōhariu, Ōtaki, Rongotai, Tauranga (×2), Wellington Central, West Coast-Tasman, Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, Tāmaki Makaurau and Te Tai Tokerau.

Only money from the broadcasting allocation can be used to purchase airtime; the actual production costs of advertisements can come from the general election expenses budget.

[65] Those third party promoters registered for the election include:[66] All campaign expense limits are inclusive of GST.

Parties and candidates had 3 working days afterwards (i.e. until 8 October 2014) to apply to the District Court for a judicial recount.

On 7 October 2014, Mana Party leader Hone Harawira filed for a judicial recount of the Te Tai Tokerau electorate.

[86] The recount was taken under the auspices of Judge TJ Broadmore at the Kaitaia District Court on 8 and 9 October, and apart from a few minor changes in vote tallies, the official result was upheld.

In Napier, Labour's Stuart Nash won the seat off retiring National MP Chris Tremain, caused by large vote splitting between National candidate Wayne Walford and Conservative candidate Garth McVicar.

[90] In Tāmaki Makaurau and Te Tai Hauāuru, Labour won both seats off the retiring Māori Party co-leaders Pita Sharples and Tariana Turia.

Of the 55 electorates where the incumbents sought re-election, only the aforementioned Te Tai Tokerau changed hands.

The table below shows the results of the 2014 general election: Key: Notes: The following is a breakdown of the party vote received in each electorate.

Darroch Ball, Todd Barclay, Andrew Bayly, Mahesh Bindra, Chris Bishop, Matt Doocey, Sarah Dowie, Marama Fox, Peeni Henare, Brett Hudson, Barbara Kuriger, Clayton Mitchell, Todd Muller, Jono Naylor, Parmjeet Parmar, Shane Reti, Adrian Rurawhe, Jenny Salesa, Alastair Scott, David Seymour, James Shaw, Stuart Smith, Fletcher Tabuteau Ron Mark, Stuart Nash, Pita Paraone, Carmel Sepuloni Carol Beaumont, Hone Harawira, Brendan Horan, Raymond Huo, Asenati Taylor, Moana Mackey, Maryan Street, Holly Walker (Electorate only, not the Green Party List) [92] The Electoral Commission released party electoral expense returns on 23 February 2015, stating how much each party spent on campaigning between 20 June and 19 September 2014.

[93] On 30 September 2014, Labour leader David Cunliffe stepped down and forced a party leadership election.

Andrew Little won leadership of the Labour Party, Two sitting mayors of local councils were elected: Jono Naylor (National) of Palmerston North City and Ron Mark (NZ First) of Carterton District.

Both announced they would stand down as mayors if elected to Parliament, resulting in by-elections being called in Palmerston North and Carterton.

During the previous Parliament, the National Party partially privatised Genesis, Meridian and Mighty River, reducing the Crown's share from 100% to 51%.

[96] Under section 197(1g) of the Electoral Act 1993, it is illegal for any person to publish anything that may influence voters to vote in a particular way between 00:00 and 19:00 on election day.

[97] A complaint was made against the Civilian Party for failure to include a promoter statement on their Facebook page as required by section 204F of the Electoral Act.