Epsom (New Zealand electorate)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Epsom is a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate.
It is currently held by Rodney Hide MP.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Population Centres
 |
Please help improve this section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. |
The electorate includes the following population centres:
- Parnell - a suburb noted for its heritage buildings and links to early Auckland
- Remuera - comprises the largest portion of Epsom electorate, and is noted for its affluency
- Mt Eden - comprises the west of Epsom electorate, with part of Mt Eden suburb also falling into the Mt Albert electorate.
- Epsom - comprises much of the centre and south of Epsom electorate, noted for its affluency.
- Greenlane - comprises the south east part of Epsom electorate, with some of Greenlane sitting in the Maungakiekie electorate
[edit] History
The Epsom seat was first contested in New Zealand's first MMP election of 1996, and is considered to be a centre-right favourable seat. Prior to this, the seat was previously comprised of two electorates - the safe conservative National seat of Remuera, held by Sir Douglas Graham, and Eden, a bellwether liberal seat held by National's Christine Fletcher.
The 1996 election in Epsom was easily won by Christine Fletcher, with one of the nations biggest personal majorities of over 19,000 votes margin over the second place Labour candidate. The seat was essentially uncontested for the personal vote, with other parties accepting Fletcher would win and they only contested the party vote.
The 1999 election was closely contested between new National candidate Richard Worth and ACT List MP Rodney Hide. Richard Worth won the seat by approximately 1900 votes.
The 2002 election was won easily by Richard Worth, with other parties contesting only the party vote.
The 2005 election was won by Rodney Hide after a tough contest for the personal vote. Rodney Hide, as the leader of ACT had determined he wished to contest the seat of Epsom in order to guarantee his party representation in the next parliament should ACT not break the 5% threshold. As it became more likely ACT would not break 5%, the campaign in Epsom became more intense as Hide's "strategic voting" message was put to the voters. National MP Richard Worth, though defeated from the Epsom seat was returned via the National Party list.
[edit] 2008 Election Candidates for Epsom
This table shows the candidates seeking election in the Epsom electorate. They have been ordered by the size of their parties current seat number in the New Zealand Parliament. The Seeking column represents the election result they are seeking in the electorate, not the general election. If it were the general election then the terms would be different for three candidates. To source the number of terms each candidate has served in Parliament refer to their article.
| Name | Party | Seeking |
| Kate Sutton | Labour | First term |
| Richard Worth | National | Third term |
| Keith Locke | Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand | First term |
| Rodney Hide | ACT New Zealand | Second term |
[edit] Election results
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- Electorate Profile Parliamentary Library
 |
This article about New Zealand politics is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
