45th Parliament of New Zealand | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
Overview | |||||
Legislative body | New Zealand Parliament | ||||
Term | 12 December 1996 – 5 October 1999 | ||||
Election | 1996 New Zealand general election | ||||
Government | Fourth National Government | ||||
House of Representatives | |||||
Members | 120 | ||||
Speaker of the House | Doug Kidd | ||||
Leader of the House | Roger Sowry — Wyatt Creech until 31 August 1998 | ||||
Prime Minister | Jenny Shipley — Jim Bolger until 8 December 1997 | ||||
Leader of the Opposition | Helen Clark | ||||
Sovereign | |||||
Monarch | Elizabeth II | ||||
Governor-General | Michael Hardie Boys |
The 45th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. Its composition was determined by the 1996 election, and it sat until the 1999 election.
The 45th Parliament was notable in that it was the first to be elected under the new MMP electoral system, a form of proportional representation. It was also notable for the fact that it was the first New Zealand Parliament to have an Asian person, Pansy Wong, elected to it. The difference between the 45th Parliament and its predecessor were considerable — the 44th Parliament had opened with only four seats being held by minor parties, but at the opening of the 45th Parliament, minor parties held thirty-nine seats. Because of the considerably altered balance of power in Parliament, neither of the two major parties could govern alone, and New Zealand First, the largest of the four other parties in Parliament, was put in the position of "kingmaker". In the end, New Zealand First opted for a coalition with the National Party which had governed in the previous Parliament, marking the first coalition government in New Zealand for over half a century. [1] The Labour Party continued in Opposition.
The 45th Parliament consisted of one hundred and twenty representatives. Sixty-five of these representatives were chosen by geographical electorates, including five special Maori electorates. The remainder were elected by means of party-list proportional representation under the MMP electoral system.
The table below shows the number of MPs in each party following the 1996 election and at dissolution:
Affiliation | Members | ||
---|---|---|---|
At 1996 election | At dissolution | ||
National | 44 | 44 | |
NZ First 1 | 17 | In opposition | |
Mauri Pacific 2 | – | 5 | |
Te Tawharau 2 | – | 1 | |
Mana Wahine 2 | – | 1 | |
Independent 2 | – | 1 | |
ACT 3 | In opposition | 8 | |
United NZ 3 | In opposition | 1 | |
Government total | 61 | 61 | |
Labour | 37 | 37 | |
Alliance 4 | 13 | 11 | |
NZ First | In government | 9 | |
ACT | 8 | With government | |
United NZ | 1 | With government | |
Christian Heritage | – | 1 | |
Independent | – | 1 | |
Opposition total | 59 | 59 | |
Total | 120 | 120 | |
Working Government majority | 2 | 2 |
Notes
45th New Zealand Parliament - MPs elected to Parliament
List MPs are ordered by allocation as determined by the Chief Electoral Office [3] and the party lists.
There was one by-election held during the term of the 45th Parliament. [4]
Electorate and by-election | Date | Incumbent | Cause | Winner | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Taranaki-King Country | 1998 | 2 May | Jim Bolger | Resignation; appointed ambassador to Washington | Shane Ardern |
Electoral reform in New Zealand has been a political issue in the past as major changes have been made to both parliamentary and local government electoral systems.
The 1996 New Zealand general election was held on 12 October 1996 to determine the composition of the 45th New Zealand Parliament. It was notable for being the first election to be held under the new mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system, and produced a parliament considerably more diverse than previous elections. Under the new MMP system, 65 members were elected in single-member districts by first-past-the-post voting, while a further 55 "top-up" members were allocated from closed lists to achieve a proportional distribution based on each party's share of the nationwide party vote.
Manu Alamein Kopu was a New Zealand politician.
Mauri Pacific was a short-lived political party in New Zealand. It was formed in 1998 by five former members of the New Zealand First party. It has often been described as a Māori party. Officially, Mauri Pacific was a multiculturalist party, welcoming anyone who supported racial and cultural harmony. Three of its five MPs were Māori, and two were Pākehā.
The 47th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. Its composition was determined by the 2002 election, and it sat until 11 August 2005.
The 46th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the New Zealand Parliament. Its composition was determined by the 1999 election, and it sat until the 2002 election.
Tuariki John Edward Delamere is a former New Zealand politician and athlete. He was elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives in the Te Tai Rawhiti electorate, representing the New Zealand First party, in the 1996 New Zealand general election. He was later a member of the Te Tawharau party, before losing his seat in 1999.
Peter McCardle, is a New Zealand politician. He was a Member of Parliament from 1990 to 1999, first as a member of the National Party, then as a member of New Zealand First, and finally as an independent. McCardle was deputy mayor of Upper Hutt from 2007 to 2013.
Raymond Tau Henare is a former New Zealand Māori parliamentarian. In representing three different political parties in parliament—New Zealand First, Mauri Pacific and the National Party—Henare served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1993 to 1999 and from 2005 to 2014.
The 44th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. Its composition was determined by the 1993 elections, and it sat until the 1996 elections.
Māori politics is the politics of the Māori people, who were the original inhabitants of New Zealand and who are now the country's largest minority.
The Tight Five was a nickname given to the five Māori MPs elected to the New Zealand Parliament in 1996 from the centrist/populist New Zealand First party.
The New Zealand Democratic Coalition was a proposed moderate political party intended to contest the 1996 General Election. It would have been led by former Prime Minister Mike Moore and was intended to capture the balance of power on election night. Ultimately it was not registered and Moore stayed with Labour for the 1996 election.
The Fourth National Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 2 November 1990 to 27 November 1999. Following electoral reforms in the 1996 election, Jim Bolger formed a coalition with New Zealand First. Following Bolger's resignation, the government was led by Jenny Shipley, the country's first female prime minister, for the final two years.
Epsom is a New Zealand electorate in Auckland, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. Since the 2014 general election, Epsom has been represented by David Seymour, the leader of the ACT Party.
Te Atatū is a parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The current MP for Te Atatū is Phil Twyford of the Labour Party.
Te Tai Tokerau is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorate that was created out of the Northern Maori electorate ahead of the first Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) election in 1996. It was held first by Tau Henare representing New Zealand First for one term, and then Dover Samuels of the Labour Party for two terms. From 2005 to 2014, it was held by MP Hone Harawira. Initially a member of the Māori Party, Harawira resigned from both the party and then Parliament, causing the 2011 by-election. He was returned under the Mana Party banner in July 2011 and confirmed at the November 2011 general election. In the 2014 election, he was beaten by Labour's Kelvin Davis, ending the representation of the Mana Party in Parliament.
Wellington Central is an electorate, represented by a Member of Parliament in the New Zealand House of Representatives. The current MP for Wellington Central is Tamatha Paul of the Green Party. She has held this position since the 2023 general election.
The 1999 New Zealand MP reduction referendum was held during the 1999 general election on 27 November 1999. The Referendum considered two questions, in which one brought upon the question on whether New Zealand Parliament should be restructured - reducing the number of MPs from 120 to 99 members in the House of Representatives.