Rangitīkei (New Zealand electorate)

Rangitīkei (before 2008 styled as Rangitikei without a macron) is a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The current MP for Rangitīkei is Ian McKelvie of the National Party.[1] He has held this position since 2011.

The electorate has existed continuously since the 1861 general election.

Contents

Geographic coverage

Rangitīkei covers an area of the lower North Island. It extends from the outskirts of Palmerston North, through the Rangitïkei catchment area north to the North Island Volcanic Plateau. The main towns included are Waiouru, Taihape, Mangaweka, Hunterville, Marton, Bulls, and Feilding, and the suburbs of Ashhurst, Aokautere, Turitea and Linton in Palmerston North.[2]

The current boundaries of the seat date from the introduction of Mixed Member Proportional voting in 1996. The seat was created by adding the southern tip of King Country to the northern tip of the Manawatu seat, and drafting in the towns to the east of Wanganui from Waitotara. The rural conservative nature of the seat makes it a safe National seat, though this belies the fact that for six years it was held by a third party MP, Social Credit leader Bruce Beetham.

History

A seat named Wanganui and Rangitikei was contested at the very first general election in New Zealand in 1853. The use of an electorate named Rangitikei in its own right dates from the third session of the New Zealand Parliament. In a somewhat auspicious start for the seat, the first Member of Parliament for the seat in 1861 was future Prime Minister William Fox. Fox resigned twice; first on 16 May 1865, causing the 1865 by-election (won by Robert Pharazyn), and then on 11 March 1875, causing the 1875 by-election (won by John Ballance).[3]

Three members died while holding the seat: Douglas Hastings Macarthur died on 24 May 1892 and was succeeded by John Stevens, Arthur Remington died on 17 August 1909 and was succeeded by Robert William Smith and Sir Roy Jack died on 24 December 197 and was succeeded by Bruce Beetham.

Members of Parliament for Rangitīkei

Members representing the electorate were:[4]

Election Winner
1861 William Fox (Independent)
1865 by-election Robert Pharazyn (Independent)
1866 William Hogg Watt (Independent)
1868 by-election William Fox (2nd period; Independent)
1871
1875 by-election John Ballance (Independent)
1876
1879 William Jarvis Willis (Independent)
1880 by-election William Fox (3rd period; Independent)
1881 John Stevens (Independent)
1884 Robert Cunningham Bruce (Independent)
1887
1890 Douglas Hastings Macarthur (Independent)
1892 by-election Robert Cunningham Bruce (2nd period; Independent)
1893 John Stevens (New Zealand Liberal Party)
Name Party Elected Left Office Reason
Frank Lethbridge Independent 1896, 1899 1902 elected (for Oroua)
Arthur Remington Liberal 1902, 1905, 1908 17 August 1909 died
Robert William Smith Liberal 1909 by-election 1911 elected (for Waimarino)
Edward Newman Reform 1911, 1914 1919 elected (for Manawatu)
William Spiers Glenn Reform 1919, 1922, 1925 1928 defeated
James Thomas Hogan Independent 1928 1931 defeated (for Wanganui)
Alexander Stuart Reform 1931 1935 defeated
Ormond Wilson Labour 1935 1938 defeated
Edward Gordon National 1938, 1943, 1946, 1949, 1951 1954 retired
Norman Shelton National 1954, 1957, 1960, 1963, 1966, 1969, 1972 retired
Sir Roy Jack National 1972, 1975 24 December 1977 died
Bruce Beetham Social Credit 1978 by-election, 1978, 1981 1984 defeated
Denis Marshall National 1984, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1996 1999 retired
Simon Power National 1999, 2002, 2005, 2008 incumbent

Candidates in the 2011 election

General Election 2011: Rangitīkei
Notes:

 Green background  denotes an incumbent.
 Pink background  denotes a current list MP.
 Yellow background  denotes a retiring incumbent.
Party Candidate Notes List # Source
Green Maree Brannigan 33   [5][6]
Mana Peter Cleave 11   [5][7]
ACT Hayden Fitzgerald 24   [5][8][9]
National Ian McKelvie 58   [5][10]
Labour Josie Pagani 38   [5][11]
Conservative Ian Robertson   [5][12]
Independent Grant Seton [5]
Independent Charles Turner [5]

Retired incumbent

National Simon Power Retired; incumbent since 1999 [13]

Electorate (as at 11 November 2011): 41,013[14]

Election results

2008 election

General Election 2008: Rangitīkei[15]

Notes: Green background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member.
A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party Votes % ±%
National Y Simon Power 21,801 65.70 - 17,711 52.45
Labour Jills Angus Burney 9,759 29.41 - 9,298 27.53
Independent Steve Gibson 786 2.37 - - -
ACT Jean Thompson 535 1.61 - 1,448 4.29
United Future John Langford 300 0.90 - 388 1.15
Green - 1,836 5.44 -
NZ First - 1,719 5.09 -
Progressive - 309 0.92 -
Māori - 307 0.91 -
Bill and Ben - 291 0.86 -
Legalise Cannabis - 135 0.40 -
Kiwi - 132 0.39 -
Family Party - 80 0.24 -
Alliance - 33 0.10 -
Libertarianz - 22 0.07 -
Workers Party - 20 0.06 -
Democrats - 18 0.05 -
Pacific - 17 0.05 -
RAM - 2 0.01 -
RONZ - 2 0.01 -
Informal votes 362 138
Total Valid votes 33,181 33,768
National hold Majority 12,042

2005 election

General Election 2005: Rangitikei[16]

Notes: Green background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member.
A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party Votes % ±%
National Y Simon Power 19,119 60.42 14,721 46.03
Labour Marilyn Brown 9459 29.89 11,538 36.08
NZ First Murray Strawbridge 1335 4.22 2363 7.39
United Future Gary Pedersen 718 2.27 1027 3.21
Independent Richard Pierce 426 1.35 -
ACT John Waugh 215 0.68 446 1.39
Green - 1083 3.39
Progressive - 287 0.90
Māori Abe Hepi 369 1.17 195 0.61 -
Destiny - 114 0.36
Legalise Cannabis - 85 0.27
Christian Heritage - 47 0.15
Alliance - 22 0.07
Democrats - 12 0.04
Libertarianz - 12 0.04
One NZ - 9 0.03
99 MP - 6 0.02
Family Rights - 5 0.02
RONZ - 5 0.02
Direct Democracy - 2 0.01
Informal votes 216 100
Total Valid votes 31,641 31,979
National hold Majority 9660 30.53

Notes

  1. ^ New Zealand Parliament - Simon Power MP
  2. ^ "Electorate Profile Rangitikei". New Zealand Parliament. http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/BF7E38A7-D867-46C4-9813-71AE1FF9ECF4/180/Rangitikei1.pdf. Retrieved 3 July 2010. 
  3. ^ Scholefield 1950, p. 107.
  4. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 271.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h "Information for Voters in Rangitīkei". Elections New Zealand. 2 November 2011. http://www.elections.org.nz/voting/voting-info/rangitikei.html. 
  6. ^ "Green Party candidate biography". http://www.greens.org.nz/candidates/maree-brannigan. Retrieved 1 May 2011. 
  7. ^ "Mana: Candidates". Mana Party website. http://mana.net.nz/candidates/. Retrieved 18 October 2011. 
  8. ^ "New ACT candidates from uni, army". Dominion Post. 15 August 2011. http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/politics/5447374/New-ACT-candidates-from-uni-army. 
  9. ^ "ACT Releases Its Party List for 2011 General Election". ACT New Zealand. 28 August 2011. http://www.act.org.nz/news/act-releases-its-party-list-for-2011-general-election. 
  10. ^ "National Selects Ian McKelvie as Rangitikei Candidate". Press Release: National Party (via Scoop.co.nz). 29 May 2011. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1105/S00464/national-selects-ian-mckelvie-as-rangitikei-candidate.htm. 
  11. ^ Labour Party candidate selections 2011 New Zealand Labour Party - Facebook, 29 December 2010
  12. ^ "Conservative List Released". Press Release: Conservative Party (via Scoop.co.nz). 2011-11-01. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO1111/S00014/conservative-list-released.htm. Retrieved 2011-11-01. 
  13. ^ Martin Kay (2 March 2011). "Justice Minister Simon Power to retire". Stuff.co.nz. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/4721936/Justice-Minister-Simon-Power-to-retire. Retrieved 2 March 2011. 
  14. ^ "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 11 November 2011. http://www.elections.org.nz/ages/. Retrieved 17 November 2011. 
  15. ^ 2008 election results
  16. ^ election result Rangitīkei 2005

References

« historic electorates «   Electorates of New Zealand at the 2008 and 2011 general elections
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Māori