Joseph Mooney has been returned as MP for Southland with a preliminary majority of 11,484, a comfortable win but a noticeably smaller one than the 17,000-vote margin he carried into the campaign.

The election-night count, published by RNZ from Electoral Commission data with all voting places in, gives the National MP 19,293 votes, or 56.5 per cent. Labour's Peter McDonald, a Northern Southland farmer who sat on Environment Southland until last year, was second with 7809 (22.9 per cent).

New Zealand First's Jason Herrick, the former Southland Federated Farmers president, polled 2725 (8.0 per cent) in a seat where his party had no candidate in 2023. ACT list MP Todd Stephenson received 2199 (6.4 per cent) and Opportunity's Bianca Beebe 2017 (5.9 per cent). The Southland Tribune recorded 123 votes for Vision NZ's Naomi MacLean. A total of 34,166 candidate votes have been counted.

Mr Mooney told the Otago Daily Times on Saturday night that being re-elected was a "real privilege". He thanked those who had backed him, congratulated the other candidates for taking part in what he called a challenging but important process, and said he wanted to add to "the region's successes".

The electorate takes in Queenstown and Alexandra as well as Gore, Te Anau and much of rural Southland, and Mr Mooney has been its only MP since the boundaries were redrawn in 2020.

In 2023 he polled 23,231 votes and finished a little more than 17,000 clear of Simon McCallum, then the Labour candidate, according to the Tribune. His own tally is therefore down by close to 4000, with special votes still to come. Tribune editor Logan Savory wrote that rivals could take some heart from having eaten into the majority, and that Mr McDonald had lifted Labour's candidate vote.

The larger movement was in the party vote. National was again well ahead with 13,406 votes, but its share dropped to 39.1 per cent. The Tribune's pre-election analysis had it at 48 per cent in 2023.

ACT was the main beneficiary. It took 5901 party votes, or 17.2 per cent, against the 13 per cent the Tribune recorded for it three years ago, and edged past Labour, which had 5810 (17.0 per cent), for second place. New Zealand First roughly doubled its share to 11.0 per cent, with 3759 votes. The Greens received 2961 (8.6 per cent) and Opportunity 2000 (5.8 per cent).

The three parties of the outgoing coalition together took about two thirds of Southland's party votes, keeping it among the most right-leaning electorates in the country even as National's own slice shrank.

For two of the beaten candidates, the seat was never the only route to Wellington. Mr Stephenson was sixth on ACT's list, the Tribune reported before the election, and ACT is provisionally entitled to 12 list MPs, which would return him to Parliament. Mr Herrick was 17th on New Zealand First's list. That party has 12 seats on the preliminary count, leaving him outside the cut unless the numbers change substantially.

Mr Mooney's own list ranking of 49th was beside the point. National has won more electorates than its party vote would otherwise allow, so none of its MPs will come from the list on current figures.

No comment from Mr McDonald appeared in the election-night coverage the Herald was able to read.

The Electoral Commission will add special votes before declaring the official result on Friday 27 November.