Justice Minister Andrew Little says it is "highly unlikely" the preliminary referendum results will be overturned on the special votes.
Preliminary results for the recreational cannabis and euthanasia referendum were released at 2pm.
They showed New Zealanders have voted in 65.2 percent in support of the End of Life Choice Bill and 33.8 percent have voted against.
In the cannabis referendum 53.1 voted against it, while 46.1 voted in favour. Speaking after the results were revealed, Little said almost 70 percent of the special votes would need to be a 'yes' vote to change the cannabis result and this was not realistic.
The final results, including special votes, will be released next Friday.
See how the day unfolded with RNZ's live blog:
The Act, which has been passed through Parliament on the proviso that the referendum held at the election supports it, aims at legalising a form of safe assisted suicide for some people experiencing a terminal illness.
The referendum on recreational cannabis is still at the draft bill stage, and has not yet been through Parliament so would be subject to change before it was made law.
Final results for the referendums and the election are due when the special votes are counted on 6 November.
Read more about the election results:
- The House: making a Parliament
- Live updates: Election 2020 concludes; what next for New Zealand's political parties?
- The red tide: Labour wins 15 seats held by National
- National's Gerry Brownlee admits he made a 'huge mistake' during electioneering
- Labour wants to build as much consensus as possible - Megan Woods
- Comment: Jacinda Ardern has huge majority but that may not be much use to her
- Election 2020: The show is over for Winston Peters
