Waimakariri (New Zealand electorate)

Waimakariri is a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate, formed in 1996 and returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The current MP for Waimakariri is Clayton Cosgrove of the Labour Party. He has held this position since the 1999 election. The results of the 2011 election are not confirmed yet; whilst Kate Wilkinson is in the lead, it might take two weeks from election day until final results get announced.

Contents

Population areas

Waimakariri is based around the city of Christchurch and towns in its orbit, spreading up the northern coast of the South Island. From Christchurch it contains the suburbs of Casebrook and Belfast; from Waimakariri District to its north, it takes in the towns of Kaiapoi and Rangiora as well as a selection of small inland localities such as Cust and Oxford. Boundary changes following the 2006 census were relatively minor; Waimakariri managed to avoid the upheaval wrought upon electorates in Christchurch, losing Bishopdale to Ilam and the last remaining segment of Papanui to Christchurch Central.

History

The existence of Waimakariri dates back to the introduction of MMP voting in the 1996 general election, when the number of South Island electorates fell from twenty-five to sixteen. The electorate is based around the old Rangiora electorate, with Hurunui District shorn off and placed in Kaikōura, and the resultant electorate pulled into Christchurch via State Highway 71, absorbing parts of Christchurch previously in the electorate of Christchurch North. The first contest saw Rangiora's Jim Gerard easily defeated by former Prime Minister and MP for Christchurch North, Mike Moore. He left the office in July 1999, having been elected Director-General of the World Trade Organization.

Clayton Cosgrove won the second contest in 1999 and was confirmed in 2002, 2005 and 2008.[1]

Given that Rangiora was a safe National electorate and Christchurch North a safe Labour electorate, and given the urban-rural makeup of the electorate, Waimakariri does not favour any party. At the 2005 election, while Waimakariri's electors were returning incumbent Clayton Cosgrove by 5,064 votes (and in the process slashing his majority in half), their party vote intentions were more ambiguous, with National winning 79 more party votes than Labour, setting Waimakariri up to be a key electorate at the 2008 election. Cosgrove retained the electorate with a much narrower 390 majority in 2008, whilst his opponent Kate Wilkinson's party (National) got over 5000 more party votes.

Preliminary results from the 2011 election night count give Wilkinson a lead of 395 votes over Cosgrove (15,409 and 15,014 votes, respectively), and final results may take two weeks from the election day.[2]

Members of Parliament

Key   Labour     National     Alliance     NZ First  

Election Winner
1996 election Mike Moore
1999 election Clayton Cosgrove
2002 election
2005 election
2008 election
2011 election Kate Wilkinson

List MPs

Members of Parliament elected from party lists in elections where that person also unsuccessfully contested the Waimakariri electorate. Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections.

Election Winner
1996 election Jim Gerard1
John Wright
1999 election Ron Mark
John Wright
2002 election Ron Mark
2005 election Ron Mark
Kate Wilkinson
2008 election Kate Wilkinson
2011 election Clayton Cosgrove

1Jim Gerard retired in April 1997 to take appointment as High Commissioner to Canada

Candidates in the 2011 election

General Election 2011: Waimakariri
Notes:

 Green background  denotes an incumbent.
 Pink background  denotes a current list MP.
 Yellow background  denotes a retiring incumbent.
Party Candidate Notes List # Source
Labour Clayton Cosgrove Incumbent since 1999 8   [3][4]
Conservative Tim de Vries 22   [3][5]
Green John Kelcher 39   [3]
NZ First Richard Prosser 4   [3][6]
National Kate Wilkinson List MP since 2005 17   [3][7]

Electorate (as at 11 November 2011): 46,911[8]

Election results

2008 election

General Election 2008: Waimakariri[9]

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 Clayton Cosgrove 16,360 44.09 - 12,702 33.87
National Kate Wilkinson 15,970 43.04 - 18,539 49.44
ACT Aaron Keown 1,717 4.63 - 953 2.54
Green Alan Liefting 1,253 3.38 - 2,036 5.43
NZ First Melanie Mark-Shadbolt 1,157 3.12 - 1,482 3.95
Kiwi Leighton Baker 536 1.44 - 397 1.06
United Future Kelleigh Sheffield-Cranstoun 114 0.31 - 342 0.91
Progressive - 397 1.06 -
Bill and Ben - 228 0.61 -
Māori - 140 0.37 -
Legalise Cannabis - 123 0.33 -
Family Party - 61 0.16 -
Alliance - 40 0.11 -
Democrats - 33 0.09 -
Workers Party - 9 0.02 -
Libertarianz - 7 0.02 -
Pacific - 5 0.01 -
RONZ - 4 0.01 -
RAM - 3 0.01 -
Informal votes 202 114
Total Valid votes 37,107 37,501
Labour hold Majority 390

2005 election

General election 2005: Waimakariri[10]

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 Clayton Cosgrove 19,084 48.61 -3.72 16,484 41.48
National Kate Wilkinson 13,478 34.33 +13.38 16,565 41.68
NZ First Ron Mark 4247 10.82 -5.90 2453 6.17
Green Alan Liefting 833 2.12 1527 3.84
United Future John Pickering 651 1.66 1295 3.26
Progressive John Wright 458 1.66 609 1.53
Legalise Cannabis Michael Britnell 289 0.74 125 0.31
ACT Rebekah Holdaway 196 0.50 362 0.91
Direct Democracy Jason Orme 23 0.06 5 0.01
Destiny - 115 0.29
Māori - 62 0.16
Christian Heritage - 49 0.12
Democrats - 32 0.08
Alliance - 21 0.05
Libertarianz - 12 0.03
Family Rights - 8 0.02
One NZ - 8 0.02
99 MP - 7 0.02
RONZ - 5 0.01
Informal votes 277 116
Total Valid votes 39,258 39,744
Labour hold Majority 5606 14.28 -17.10

References

  1. ^ "Hon Clayton Cosgrove". New Zealand Parliament. http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/MPP/MPs/MPs/1/c/d/49MP30571-Cosgrove-Clayton.htm. Retrieved 21 November 2011. 
  2. ^ "Waimakariri Electorate - Election 2011". NZ Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz-election-results-2011/?page=electorate&e_no=55. Retrieved 27 November 2011. 
  3. ^ a b c d e "Information for Voters in Waimakariri". Elections New Zealand. 2 November 2011. http://www.elections.org.nz/voting/voting-info/waimakariri.html. 
  4. ^ Labour confirms third round nominations Scoop.co.nz, 8 September 2010
  5. ^ "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. 
  6. ^ "New Zealand First: Candidates". http://www.nzfirst.org.nz/candidates.html. Retrieved 11 October 2011. 
  7. ^ "201 Election Candidates". kiwiblog.co.nz. http://www.kiwiblog.co.nz/201_election_candidates. 
  8. ^ "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 11 November 2011. http://www.elections.org.nz/ages/. Retrieved 17 November 2011. 
  9. ^ 2008 election results
  10. ^ election result Waimakariri 2005

External links

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