Taupō (New Zealand electorate)

Taupō (before 2008 styled as 'Taupo' with no macron) is a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The current MP for Taupō is Louise Upston of the National Party. She has held this position since 2008.

The current Taupō seat was created ahead of the introduction to Mixed Member Proportional voting in 1996. It is a merger of the old marginal seat of Tongariro with the western half of the safe National seat of Waikaremoana. It, and all its descendents are centred around Taupo district and its main towns of Taupo, Turangi and Mangakino, with the South Waikato District towns of Tokoroa, Tirau and Putaruru. Before 2008, the electorate pulled south to take in the northern and western parts of Ruapehu District (now annexed by Rangitīkei), namely Taumarunui, Raetihi and Ohakune. With the sweeping changes wrought by the boundary review conducted after the 2006 census, low population growth in the south-central North Island coupled with high population growth in and around Auckland has meant Cambridge moved out of the now defunct seat of Piako and into Taupō.

Taupō has twice returned Mark Burton with a majority of around a thousand - in 1996, when Labour's post-1990 fortunes were at their lowest and New Zealand First went on to take a large bite out of their vote; and again in 2005, when National consolidated the centre-right vote, and at the same time won 2,000 more party votes than Burton's Labour party. At the intermediate two MMP elections, Burton was safely returned, thanks in part to a heavy disenchantment with the National Party among its formerly loyal voters. In the political climate in 2008, with the dominance of the National Party in Cambridge, which contributed over ten thousand new voters to the seat, Louise Upston won the seat with a majority of over 6,000.

Historically, the name can refer to a seat contested between 1963 and 1981. The seat referred to here was much smaller, because it did not contain the western side of Lake Taupo, nor Cambridge, nor the Ruapehu towns. It was as marginal as the seat that would be reclaimed fifteen years later, returning four one-term MPs in succession before its abolition.

Contents

Members of Parliament for Taupō

Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections.

Name Party Elected Left Office Reason
Rona Stevenson National 1963, 1966, 1969 1972 retired
Jack Ridley Labour 1972 1975 defeated
Ray La Varis National 1975 1978 defeated
Jack Ridley Labour 1978 1981 defeated
Roger McClay National 1981 1984 seat abolished; contested Waikaremoana instead
Mark Burton Labour 1996, 1999, 2002, 2005 2008 defeated
Louise Upston National 2008 incumbent

Candidates in the 2011 election

General Election 2011: Taupō
Notes:

 Green background  denotes an incumbent.
 Pink background  denotes a current list MP.
 Yellow background  denotes a retiring incumbent.
Party Candidate Notes List # Source
Conservative Mark Breetvelt   [1][2]
Labour Frances Campbell   [1][3]
ACT Roseanne Jollands 40   [1][4]
Green Zane McCarthy 45   [1][5]
NZ First Edwin Perry List MP 2002-2005 22   [1][6]
Mana Keriana Reedy 14   [1][7]
United Future Alan Simmons 5   [1][8]
National Louise Upston Incumbent since 2008 44   [1][9]

Electorate (as at 11 November 2011): 45,381[10]

Election results

2008 election

General Election 2008: Taupō[11]

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 Louise Upston 20,211 57.91 +16.84 19,001 53.57 +9.32
Labour N Mark Burton 13,766 39.44 -6.06 10,359 29.20 -8.10
United Future Max Edwards 377 1.08 -0.98 284 0.80 -1.81
Independent Robbie Mac 313 0.90
Independent Martin Bloxham 236 0.68
NZ First   1,824 5.14 -2.61
Green   1,599 4.51 +0.80
ACT   1,245 3.51 +2.29
Māori   325 0.92 -0.23
Progressive   236 0.67 -0.30
Bill and Ben   199 0.56
Kiwi   133 0.37
Legalise Cannabis   119 0.34 +0.06
Family Party   61 0.17
Democrats   23 0.06 +0.01
Pacific   22 0.06
Alliance   20 0.06 +0.01
Libertarianz   13 0.04
Workers Party   6 0.02
RONZ   3 0.01
RAM   0 0.00
Informal votes 424 201
Total Valid votes 34,903 35,472
Turnout 35,937 80.15 -0.09
National gain from Labour Majority 6,445 18.47 +22.90

2005 election

General Election 2005: Taupo[12]

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 % ±%
Labour Y Mark Burton 13,211 45.50 -10.12 10,977 37.30 -2.30
National Weston Kirton 11,926 41.07 +12.15 13,020 44.25 +22.34
NZ First Kristin Campbell Smith 1337 4.60 2281 7.75 -5.59
Green John Davis 751 2.59 -2.50 1093 3.71 -1.68
United Future Paul Check 598 2.06 -1.20 769 2.61 -2.99
Māori Billy Maea 501 1.73 338 1.15
ACT Andrew Jollands 275 0.75 -3.23 358 1.22 -5.03
Destiny Charles Te Kowhai 260 0.90 142 0.48
Progressive David Reeks 167 0.58 -0.40 285 0.97 -0.58
RONZ Debra Potroz 11 0.04 2 0.01
Legalise Cannabis   82 0.28 -0.22
Christian Heritage   24 0.08
Alliance   15 0.05 -5.49
Democrats   15 0.05
Libertarianz   12 0.04
Family Rights   5 0.02
Direct Democracy   4 0.01
99 MP   2 0.01
One NZ   2 0.01 -0.04
Informal votes 207 95
Total Valid votes 29,037 29,426
Turnout 29,722 80.24 +4.48
Labour hold Majority 1285 4.43 -22.27

2002 election

General Election 2002: Taupo[13]

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 % ±%
Labour Y Mark Burton 14,851 55.62 +6.20 10,775 39.60 +0.74
National Weston Kirton 7,723 28.92 -7.61 5,961 21.91 -11.67
Green Nicholas Fisher 1,359 5.09 +1.50 1,467 5.39 +0.37
ACT Diane Mulcock 1,062 3.98 +0.82 1,700 6.25 -0.81
United Future Denis Gilmore 871 3.26 1,523 5.60 +3.99a
Christian Heritage Donald Wishart 360 1.35 -0.74 292 1.07 -0.80
Progressive Victor Bradley 261 0.98 426 1.55
Alliance John Harré 214 0.80 -1.52 193 0.73 -4.81
NZ First   3,629 13.34 +8.81
ORNZ   1,072 3.94
Legalise Cannabis   137 0.50 -0.45
Mana Māori   19 0.07 +0.01
One NZ   13 0.05 -0.01
NMP   1 0.00 -0.03
Informal votes 371 85
Total Valid votes 26,701 27,210
Turnout 27,538 75.76
Labour hold Majority 7,128 26.70 +13.81
a United Future swing is compared to the 1999 results of United NZ and Future NZ, who merged in 2000.

1999 election

General Election 1999: Taupo[13][14]

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 % ±%
Labour Y Mark Burton 13,721 49.42 10,876 38.86
National David Steele 10,143 36.53 9,399 33.58
Green Nick Fisher 997 3.59 1,405 5.02
ACT Richard Steele 877 3.16 1,976 7.06
NZ First Ross Honeyfield 718 2.59 1,269 4.53
Alliance Wayne Morris 644 2.32 1,550 5.54
Christian Heritage John van der Zee 580 2.09 524 1.87
Mauri Pacific Rovina Anderson 51 0.18 20 0.71
Mana Wahine Makere Rangitoheriri 34 0.12
Future NZ 341 1.22
Legalise Cannabis   265 0.95
Libertarianz   111 0.40
United NZ   110 0.39
McGillicuddy Serious   41 0.15
Animals First   36 0.13
One NZ   17 0.06
Mana Māori   16 0.06
Natural Law   8 0.03
NMP   8 0.03
Freedom Movement 6 0.02
People's Choice 5 0.02
Republican   3 0.01
South Island   0 0.00
Informal votes 514 293
Total Valid votes 27,765 27,986
Labour hold Majority 3,578 12.89

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h "Information for Voters in Taupō". Elections New Zealand. 2 November 2011. http://www.elections.org.nz/voting/voting-info/taupo.html. 
  2. ^ "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. 
  3. ^ "Labour slow out of the stalls". Waikato Times. 23 August 2011. http://www.stuff.co.nz/waikato-times/5492271/Labour-slow-out-of-the-stalls. Retrieved 27 August 2011. 
  4. ^ "ACT - Candidates". ACT New Zealand. http://www.act.org.nz/candidates. Retrieved 15 October 2011. 
  5. ^ "2011 election candidates by electorate, Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand". greens.org.nz. http://www.greens.org.nz/people/candidates/electorate. Retrieved 25 September 2011. 
  6. ^ "New Zealand First: Candidates". http://www.nzfirst.org.nz/candidates.html. Retrieved 18 October 2011. 
  7. ^ "Mana: Candidates". Mana Party website. http://mana.net.nz/candidates/. Retrieved 18 October 2011. 
  8. ^ "United Future: Electorate Candidates". United Future website. http://www.unitedfuture.org.nz/electorate-candidates/. Retrieved 19 September 2011. 
  9. ^ "201 Election Candidates". kiwiblog.co.nz. http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/201_election_candidates. 
  10. ^ "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 11 November 2011. http://www.elections.org.nz/ages/. Retrieved 17 November 2011. 
  11. ^ 2008 election results
  12. ^ election result Taupo 2005
  13. ^ a b "Electorate Profile Taupo". Parliamentary Library. October 2005. http://www.parliament.nz/NR/rdonlyres/FE14B68A-E00F-4C4F-BEAD-C90ABAAB1A62/200/Taupo1.pdf. Retrieved 23 September 2009. 
  14. ^ http://electionresults.org.nz/electionresults_1999/e9/html/e9_partIV.html

External links

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