The 2020 New Zealand euthanasia referendum was a binding

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

held in New Zealand on 17 October 2020, on the question of whether to legalise

euthanasia Euthanasia (from : + ) is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different Legality of euthanasia, euthanasia laws. The British House of Lords Select committee (United Kingdom), se ...

via the

End of Life Choice Act 2019 The End of Life Choice Act 2019 is an Act of Parliament in New Zealand that gives people with a terminal illness the option of receiving assisted suicide or euthanasia. The act came into force on 7 November 2021, twelve months after the 2020 e ...

. The vote was held in conjunction with the 2020 general election, and official results were released on 6 November 2020. It was accepted by New Zealand voters, with 65.1% in support and 33.7% opposed. The act came into force on 7 November 2021, twelve months after the final vote count was announced. The End of Life Choice Act legalises

voluntary euthanasia Voluntary euthanasia is the purposeful ending of another person's life at their request, in order to relieve them of suffering. Voluntary euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide (PAS) have been the focus of intense debate in the 21st century, ...

for those with a

terminal illness Terminal illness or end-stage disease is a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and is expected to result in the death of the patient. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer, rather than fatal injur ...

and less than six months left to live, if confirmed to be eligible by two doctors. New Zealand is the first country to have put euthanasia legalisation to a referendum. Votes for the End of Life Choice referendum were included on the same ballot as the 2020 cannabis referendum, which sought to legalise recreational cannabis.

Background

Prior to 2021,

was illegal in New Zealand, with it being illegal to "aid and abet suicide" under section 179 of the

Crimes Act 1961 The Crimes Act 1961 is an act of New Zealand Parliament that forms a leading part of the criminal law in New Zealand. It repeals the Crimes Act 1908, itself a successor of the Criminal Code Act 1893. Most crimes in New Zealand are created by t ...

. Two earlier attempts to legalise euthanasia failed to get through the

New Zealand Parliament The New Zealand Parliament () is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the Monarchy of New Zealand, Sovereign and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by his Governor-General of New Zeal ...

Hawkes Bay Hawke's Bay () is a region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island. The region is named for Hawke Bay, which was named in honour of Edward Hawke. The region's main centres are the cities of Napier and Hastings, while the more rural ...

National MP

Michael Laws Michael Laws (born 1957) is a New Zealand politician, broadcaster and writer. Laws was a Member of Parliament for six years, starting in 1990, initially for the National Party. In Parliament he voted against his party on multiple occasions a ...

's 1995 Death with Dignity Bill failed with 61 votes against and 29 supporting, and NZ First MP Peter Brown's 2003 Death with Dignity Bill failed in its first reading by 60 votes opposing to 58 supporting.

End of Life Choice Bill

ACT party MP

David Seymour David Breen Seymour (born 24 June 1983) is a New Zealand politician who has served as the 21st deputy prime minister of New Zealand since 2025 and as the 1st minister for regulation since 2023. A member of the ACT Party, he has served as its ...

entered the End of Life Choice Bill to the

member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

ballot in October 2015. The bill passed its first reading 76–44 in December 2017 and its second reading 70–50 in June 2019. In the committee of the whole House, support from the

New Zealand First New Zealand First (), commonly abbreviated to NZ First or NZF, is a political party in New Zealand, founded and led by Winston Peters, who has served three times as Deputy Prime Minister of New Zealand, deputy prime minister. The party has form ...

party became conditional on a referendum to decide whether the law should come into force. An amendment to require a referendum passed 69–51, and the bill passed its third reading with the same numbers on 13 November. The bill received

royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...

on 16 November 2019, becoming the

Referendum structure

Sample ballot for the 2020 New Zealand referendums

Following the third reading, the act was written such that it could only come into force following a majority support at a referendum, which would make the legislation active twelve months after the final vote count. If the majority had opposed the legislation in the referendum (or any subsequent referendum, if the first had been voided), it would have been repealed by 16 November 2024, five years after it received royal assent. The wording of the referendum was also written into the act, and asked voters: :Do you support the

coming into force? :* Yes, I support the End of Life Choice Act 2019 coming into force. :* No, I do not support the End of Life Choice Act 2019 coming into force.

Public opinion

Support for assisted dying between 2000 and 2019 averaged at around 68%, and prior to the act passing into law in 2019, support for some kind of medically assisted euthanasia for the terminally ill was polled at 74% in April, and 72% in July of 2019. During the 16-month-long select committee stage of the End of Life Choice Bill, 39,000 public submissions were made, with 90% of submitters opposed to it. Over one thousand doctors signed an open letter in mid-2019 saying that they "want no part in assisted suicide". Opinion polling for the 2020 New Zealand euthanasia referendum

Opinion polling for the 2020 New Zealand euthanasia referendum

Through 2020, following the act's assent, public support for it polled at 60–65%:

Campaigning and endorsements

The rules regarding campaigning for referendums are the same as for general elections. All advertisements must carry a promoter statement, stating the name and physical address of the promoter. It is illegal to campaign on polling day, or within a radius of an advance polling booth. During the regulated period, which ran from 18 August to 16 October 2020, promoters have to declare their campaign expenses and there are limits on how much they may spend on referendum campaigning. The maximum expense limit was $338,000 per referendum for those promoters registered with the

Electoral Commission An election commission is a body charged with overseeing the implementation of electioneering process of any country. The formal names of election commissions vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, and may be styled an electoral commission, a c ...

, and $13,600 per referendum for unregistered promoters.

Results

Unlike the general election, a preliminary count for the euthanasia referendum was not conducted on election night (17 October 2020). Instead, the referendum votes were counted alongside the mandatory election recount. All voting papers, counterfoils and electoral rolls are returned to the electorate's returning officer for counting. During the count, the returning officer approves and counts any

special vote In elections in New Zealand, a special vote, also known as a special declaration vote, is a provisional ballot used in special circumstances. Special votes are cast by voters who are not able to cast an ordinary vote. The voter's eligibility to ...

s, and compiles a master electoral roll to ensure no-one has voted more than once. To simplify processing and counting, overseas votes are sent and counted at the Electoral Commission's central processing centre in

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

, rather than to electorate returning officers. Preliminary results for the referendums were released by the Electoral Commission on 30 October 2020. These results had 65.2% of people in support of the legislation. Following the counting of the 480,000 special votes, official results for the general election and referendums were released on 6 November. Based on the final results, 65.1% of people supported the legislation while 33.7% opposed it. Three

South Auckland South Auckland ( or ) is one of the major geographical regions of Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand. The area is south of the Auckland isthmus, and on the eastern shores of the Manukau Harbour. The area has been populated by Tāmaki M� ...

electorates — , and — voted against the End of Life Choices Act, perhaps due to

conservative evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of the Christian go ...

Pasifika Christianity's strength in those areas. By contrast, over three quarters of and voters supported introduction of the End of Life Choices Act in this referendum. Although these are metropolitan electorates, there were several other electorates that polled over seventy percent support for the proposed legislation that were not necessarily urban. The new legislation took effect on 7 November 2021.

By polling place location

As each polling place had only one ballot box for ordinary referendum votes, ordinary votes were broken down by the general electorate where the polling place was located. Special votes were broken down by electorate. Both ordinary and special votes have been combined in the following table.

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:New Zealand euthanasia referendum, 2020 2020 referendums Euthanasia referendum 2020 referendum Euthanasia referendum 2020 euthanasia Referendums postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic