Otago (New Zealand electorate)

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Otago was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate first created for the 1978 election, which was replaced by the Waitaki electorate and Clutha-Southland electorates for the 2008 election. Its last representative was Jacqui Dean of the National Party.

Contents

Population centres

The 1977 electoral redistribution was the most overtly political since the Representation Commission had been established through an amendment to the Representation Act in 1886, initiated by Muldoon's National Government. [1] As part of the 1976 census, a large number of people failed to fill out an electoral re-registration card, and census staff had not been given the authority to insist on the card being completed. This had little practical effect for people on the general roll, but it transferred Māori to the general roll if the card was not handed in. Together with a northward shift of New Zealand's population, this resulted in five new electorates having to be created in the upper part of the North Island. [2] The electoral redistribution was very disruptive, and 22 electorates were abolished, while 27 electorates were newly created (including Otago) or re-established. These changes came into effect for the 1978 election. [3]

When the electorate was first formed, it mostly replaced the Otago Central electorate, but also gained areas from the Clutha electorate (including Tapanui and Lawrence) and the coastal strip north of Dunedin from the Oamaru electorate (including Waikouaiti, Palmerston, and Hampden). The main towns that came from the Otago Central electorate were Queenstown, Alexandra, Cromwell, and Wanaka. [4] In the 1983 electoral redistribution, the southern boundary moved north and some towns transferred to the Clutha electorate, including Tapanui, Lawrence, and Roxburgh. To compensate, some outer suburbs of Dunedin on the northern part of Otago Peninsula were gained from the Dunedin North electorate, including St Leonards and Ravensbourne. [5]

The electoral redistribution carried out for the 1996 election saw the electorate move further north to now include Twizel. The electoral redistribution carried out after the 2006 census saw Otago abolished, with its area split between the Waitaki and Clutha-Southland electorates.

History

The Otago electorate was first won by Warren Cooper of the National Party in 1978, who had been the representative for the Otago Central electorate since the 1975 election. [6] When Cooper retired at the 1996 election, he was succeeded by Gavan Herlihy. [7] Although Otago was a reasonably safe seat for the National Party, that party's poor showing at the 2002 election saw the Otago constituents elect a Labour MP, David Parker. [7] [8] Three years later in 2005, a swing to National in provincial New Zealand unseated Parker in favour of National's Jacqui Dean. [9] When the Otago electorate was abolished in 2008, Dean transferred to the Waitaki electorate. [10]

Members of Parliament

Key

  National     Labour     ACT   

ElectionWinner
1978 election Warren Cooper
1981 election
1984 election
1987 election
1990 election
1993 election
1996 election Gavan Herlihy
1999 election
2002 election David Parker
2005 election Jacqui Dean
(Electorate abolished in 2008; see Waitaki)

List MPs

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

ElectionWinner
1999 election Gerry Eckhoff
2002 election
2005 election David Parker

Election results

2005 election

2005 general election: Otago [9]
Notes:

Blue 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, or other incumbent.
A Green check.svgY or Red x.svgN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

PartyCandidateVotes%±%Party votes%±%
National Jacqui Dean 17,36416,333
Labour Red x.svgN David Parker 15,36914,573
Green Jane Pearce1,5962,251
ACT Gerry Eckhoff 848585
United Future Gerald Telford620783
Progressive Barry Silcock270389
Democrats Richard Prosser 13353
Direct Democracy Simon Guy8836
NZ First  1,407
Destiny  132
Legalise Cannabis  106
Māori Party  63
Christian Heritage  38
Alliance  26
99 MP  11
Libertarianz  10
Family Rights  7
RONZ  6
One NZ  4
Informal votes331104
Total Valid votes36,28836,813
National gain from Labour Majority1,995

2002 election

2002 general election: Otago [8]
Notes:

Blue 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, or other incumbent.
A Green check.svgY or Red x.svgN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

PartyCandidateVotes%±%Party votes%±%
Labour David Parker 14,11312,943
National Red x.svgN Gavan Herlihy 13,4298,472
ACT Gerry Eckhoff 1,2941,919
United Future Allan Smellie1,1151,779
Christian Heritage Mike Ferguson544431
Progressive Hessel van Wieren438528
Alliance Sam Huggard441260
Green  2,598
NZ First  2,127
ORNZ  635
Legalise Cannabis  232
One NZ  19
NMP  7
Mana Māori Movement  4
Informal votes48992
Total Valid votes31,37431,954
Labour gain from National Majority684

1999 election

Refer to Candidates in the New Zealand general election 1999 by electorate#Otago for a list of candidates.

1987 election

1987 general election: Otago
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
National Warren Cooper 9,234 51.4 +9.1
Labour Calvin Fisher7,23240.5+4.8
Democrats W J Thompson1,2797.1-7.8
Wizard PartyMs P Johnstone1781.0+1.0
Majority1,96110.9
Turnout 88.6
Registered electors 20,563

1984 election

1984 general election: Otago
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
National Warren Cooper 8,884 42.3 -7.5
Labour David Polson7,50935.7+10.3
Social Credit W J Thompson2,12414.9-9.9
NZ Party F H Chittock1,5017.1+7.1
Majority1,3756.6
Turnout 95.2
Registered electors 22,500

1981 election

1981 general election: Otago
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
National Warren Cooper 9,970 49.8 -0.3
Labour Bryan Griffiths5,07725.4-4.3
Social Credit M J Robertson4,95124.8+7.0
Majority4,89324.4
Turnout 91.5
Registered electors 21,938

1978 election

1978 general election: Otago
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
National Warren Cooper 9,109 50.1 -2.2
Labour R J Rutherford5,38729.7-10.7
Social Credit H Te H Ruru3,32617.8+13.2
Values Mrs J Pitches4302.4-0.3
Majority3,72220.4
Turnout 73.9
Registered electors 24,668

Notes

  1. ↑ McRobie 1989, pp. 8–9, 51, 119.
  2. ↑ McRobie 1989, p. 119.
  3. ↑ McRobie 1989, pp. 115–120.
  4. ↑ McRobie 1989, pp. 117, 121.
  5. ↑ McRobie 1989, pp. 121–125.
  6. ↑ Wilson 1985, p. 190.
  7. 1 2 Young, Audrey (31 July 2002). "Tears flow as 16 MPs say goodbye". The New Zealand Herald . New Zealand Press Association . Retrieved 12 July 2008.
  8. 1 2 "Official Count Results -- Otago". Chief Electoral Office. 10 August 2002. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  9. 1 2 "Official Count Results -- Otago". Chief Electoral Office. 1 October 2005. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
  10. ↑ "Jacqui Dean". New Zealand Parliament. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2015.

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References

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