Waimakariri (New Zealand electorate)

Waimakariri electorate boundaries used since the 2014 election

Waimakariri is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, formed for the 1996 election and returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The MP for Waimakariri is Matthew Doocey of the National Party. He has held this position since the 2014 election and takes over from Kate Wilkinson, who defeated Clayton Cosgrove (Labour) in the 2011 election.

Population areas

Waimakariri centres on metropolitan Christchurch and spreads northward up the 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.

Along with neighbouring Selwyn, Waimakariri has been experiencing strong population growth, with many people from Christchurch displaced by the earthquakes. In the 2013/14 boundary review by the Representation Commission, Waimakariri lost most of Redwood and Marshland to Christchurch Central and Christchurch East respectively, while it gained the less populated Harewood north of Sawyers Arms Road from Selwyn.^[1]

History

The Waimakariri electorate from 2008

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 originates in 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.^[2]

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.

Results from the 2011 election gave Wilkinson a lead of 642 votes over Cosgrove, shifting the electorate from marginal Labour to marginal National.^[3] Wilkinson retired at the end of the parliamentary term and was replaced as National's candidate for the 2014 election by Matthew Doocey, who had previously contested the 2013 by-election in Christchurch East.^[4][5] Doocey beat Cosgrove with an increased majority.^[6]

Members of Parliament

Key   Labour     National     Alliance     NZ First  

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.

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

Election results

2011 election

General election 2011: Waimakariri[3]
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	Kate Wilkinson		16,787	47.28	+4.25	20,489	56.89	+7.45
	Labour	N Clayton Cosgrove		16,145	45.48	+1.39	8,431	23.41	-10.46
	Green	John Kelcher		1,197	3.37	-0.01	3,050	8.47	+3.04
	Conservative	Tim de Vries		785	2.21	+2.21	1,177	3.27	+3.27
	NZ First	Richard Prosser		588	1.66	-1.46	2,131	5.92	+1.96
	United Future						208	0.58	-0.33
	ACT						195	0.54	-2.00
	Legalise Cannabis						155	0.43	+0.10
	Māori						93	0.26	-0.12
	Mana						35	0.10	-0.12
	Democrats						23	0.06	-0.02
	Alliance						17	0.05	-0.06
	Libertarianz						12	0.03	+0.01
Informal votes				490			297
Total Valid votes				35,502			36,016
	National gain from Labour		Majority	642	1.81	+2.86

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 47,387^[7]

2008 election

General election 2008: Waimakariri[8]
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	1.05

2005 election

General election 2005: 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		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		4,247	10.82	-5.90	2,453	6.17
	Green	Alan Liefting		833	2.12		1,527	3.84
	United Future	John Pickering		651	1.66		1,295	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	5,606	14.28	-17.10

References

External links

• Electorate Profile Parliamentary Library