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New Zealand is a representative democracy in which members of the unicameral New Zealand Parliament gain their seats through elections. General elections are usually held every three years; they may be held at an earlier date at the discretion of the prime minister, but that usually only happens in the event of a vote of no confidence or other exceptional circumstances. A by-election is held to fill an electorate vacancy arising during a parliamentary term. The most recent general election took place on 14 October 2023.
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.
An electorate or electoral district is a geographic constituency used for electing a member (MP) to the New Zealand Parliament. The size of electorates is determined such that all electorates have approximately the same population.
Christchurch Central is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate in the South Island city of Christchurch. The electorate was established for the 1946 election and, until 2011 had always been won by the Labour Party. Since 2008, the incumbent was Brendon Burns but the election night results for the 2011 election resulted in a tie; the special vote results combined with a judicial recount revealed a 47-vote majority for Nicky Wagner, the National list MP based in the electorate. Wagner significantly increased her winning margin in the 2014 election after having declared the electorate "unwinnable" for National earlier in the year following a boundary review. At the 2017 election Wagner lost the seat to Labour's Duncan Webb, who retained it at the 2020 election.
Hamilton East is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate.
Māngere is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, returning one member of parliament to the Representatives of New Zealand. The current MP for Māngere is Lemauga Lydia Sosene of the Labour Party. She has held this electorate since 2023.
Manurewa is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate in southern Auckland. A very safe Labour seat, the seat was created in 1963 and has returned a National MP only once, in 1975. Arena Williams has represented the electorate since the 2020 election.
Nelson is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the House of Representatives of New Zealand. From 1853 to 1860, the electorate was called Town of Nelson. From 1860 to 1881, it was City of Nelson. The electorate is the only one that has continuously existed since the 1st Parliament in 1853.
New Lynn is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, returning one member to the New Zealand House of Representatives. Deborah Russell of the Labour Party represented the electorate from the 2017 general election before being defeated by National's Paulo Garcia in the 2023 election.
New Plymouth is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It was first created for the 1st New Zealand Parliament in 1853 and has existed since, with one 32-year interruption. The electorate was initially called Town of New Plymouth.
North Shore is a parliamentary electorate that returns one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The current MP for North Shore is Simon Watts of the National Party, who at the 2020 election was elected to succeed the retiring Maggie Barry, also of National.
Wairarapa is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It was first created in 1858 and existed until 1881. It was recreated in 1887 and has since existed continuously. The current Wairarapa electorate MP is Mike Butterick.
Whanganui is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It was first established in 1860 for the 3rd Parliament and has existed continuously since then.
Whangārei is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate that was first created for the 1972 election. The electorate is usually a reasonably safe National seat, and was held for long periods by John Banks (1981–1999) and Phil Heatley (1999–2014), before being won in the 2014 election by Shane Reti. In the 2020 election Reti narrowly lost the seat to Labour's Emily Henderson. Reti would reclaim the seat at the 2023 election with a huge majority.
Glenfield was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate for four terms, from 1984 to 1996. It was represented by two members of parliament, first Judy Keall of the Labour Party, and then Peter Hilt of the National Party. Hilt defected to United New Zealand in 1995.
Birkenhead was a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate on Auckland's North Shore from 1969 to 1996, when it was absorbed into the Northcote electorate.
Sydenham was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, from 1881 to 1890 and again from 1946 to 1996. It had notable politicians representing it like Mabel Howard, Norman Kirk and Jim Anderton.
This page provides the party lists put forward in New Zealand's 2008 general election. Party lists determine the appointment of list MPs under the mixed-member proportional (MMP) representation electoral system. Electoral law required submission of all party lists for this particular election by 14 October 2008.
Remuera is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate, in the city of Auckland. It existed from 1938, when it replaced the Parnell electorate, until 1996. It was consistently held by members of the National Party.
The 51st New Zealand Parliament was elected at the 2014 general election. This Parliament consists of 121 members and was in place from September 2014 until August 2017, followed by the 2017 New Zealand general election. Following the final vote count John Key was able to continue to lead the Fifth National Government.