Waikato (New Zealand electorate)

Waikato
Single-member constituency for the New Zealand House of Representatives
Location of Waikatowithin Waikato
Region	Waikato
Major settlements	Huntly, Matamata, Morrinsville
Current constituency
Current MP	Tim van de Molen
Party	National
List MP	James McDowall (ACT)

Waikato is an electorate in the New Zealand Parliament. A Waikato electorate was first created in 1871 and an electorate by this name has existed from 1871 to 1963, 1969 to 1996, and 2008 to the present, though exact borders have often changed.

The Waikato electorate is represented by Tim van de Molen for the National Party, who has held the seat since the 2017 general election.

Geography

See also: Waikato Region

The Waikato electorate, whose borders were last altered in 2020, ^[1] is in the Waikato region and includes largely rural areas to the north and the west of the city of Hamilton. The Waikato River flows along near its southern boundary then travels north through the electorate. It includes small portions of the outskirts of Hamilton and Cambridge. Towns within the electorate include Morrinsville, Huntly, and Matamata, ^[2] each of which have populations around 8,000.

In a piece for the 2020 election, journalist Tom Rowland described the area as "one of the country's most vital regions, home to farmers and agricultural industries that continue to hold New Zealand's economy steady in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic". Rowland considered it to be a key area for future economic development, calling it "the key to activating the Golden Triangle between Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga." He also noted that it was the birthplace of both Jacinda Ardern and Judith Collins, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, respectively, at the 2020 election. ^[3]

History

Creation and seat holders prior to 1938

The Waikato electorate was first contested in the 1871 election. ^[4] James McPherson was elected, but he resigned the same year, on 20 December. ^[5] William Jackson won the resulting 1872 by-election. Jackson retired at the end of the parliamentary term in 1875. ^[6] Frederick Whitaker won 5 January 1876 election. ^[7] In the 1879 election, Whitaker contested the Eden electorate but was beaten by Joseph Tole. ^{[8] [9]}

The Waikato electorate was won by John Blair Whyte in the 1879 election, who served for eleven years until 1890 when he retired. Whyte was appointed to the Legislative Council in the following year. ^[10] John Bryce, who first became Member of the House of Representatives during the 4th Parliament, succeeded Whyte in the 1890 election, but he resigned in the following year. ^[11] The resulting 1891 by-election was won by Edward Lake, who retired at the end of the parliamentary term in 1893. ^[12]

The 1893 election was won by Alfred Cadman for the Liberal Party, who had been an MP in various electorates since 1881. At the next election in 1896, Cadman successfully contested the Ohinemuri electorate. ^[13] The Waikato electorate was won by Frederic Lang in 1896, who represented the electorate until his defeat by the Liberal Party's Henry Greenslade in the 1905 election. ^[14] Greenslade held the electorate until 1911, ^[15] when he was defeated by the Reform candidate Alexander Young. ^[16]

Young won subsequent elections in 1914 and 1919. In the 1922 election, he successfully contested the newly formed Hamilton electorate. ^[16] Young was succeeded by the Liberal candidate Frederick Lye in the Waikato electorate in 1922. ^[17] At the 1925 election, Lye was defeated by Reform's Daniel Stewart Reid. ^[18] Lye in turn defeated Reid at the 1928 election, but this time standing for the United Party. The United–Reform Coalition was established just before the 1931 election and Lye was again successful. ^[17] In the 1935 election, Lye was beaten by Robert Coulter of the Labour Party. ^[19] Coulter served only one term in Waikato, as he was defeated by the National Party candidate Stan Goosman in the 1938 election.

1938 onward

Since 1938, the Waikato electorate (when it has existed) has always been held by a National Party member. This trend has lasted through 2020, when the seat was retained by National MP Tim van de Molen. ^{[3] [20]} Other electorates which covered parts of this region have also strongly supported National. The electorates of Piako, Matamata, and Karapiro were entirely National-held during their time as electorates, the Hamilton electorate was held by National from 1943 until it was dissolved in 1969, and the Waipa electorate was held by National from 1954 until its dissolution in 1996.

Goosman, who had taken Waikato in 1938, also won the 1943 election, but successfully contested the 1946 election in the newly formed Piako electorate. ^[15] Goosman was succeeded in Waikato by Geoffrey Sim in 1946. ^[21] Sim held the electorate until it was abolished in 1963, when he contested Piako instead. ^[22]

The Waikato electorate was re-established in 1969 following the Electoral Act of 1965, which led to substantial changes in the number, shape, and size of electorates across the country. ^{[23] [24] [25] [26] [27]} These changes came into effect with the 1969 election. ^[24] The first representative was National's Lance Adams-Schneider, who had previously represented the Hamilton electorate. Adams-Schneider retired from Parliament in 1981 and became Ambassador of New Zealand to the United States in the following year. ^[22] Adams-Schneider was succeeded by National's Simon Upton, who won the 1981 election and started his long parliamentary career with one term in Waikato. Upton contested the Raglan in the 1984 election and was succeeded by National's Rob Storey in Waikato. Storey held the electorate until it was abolished again in the electorate changes that came with the introduction of Mixed-member proportional voting in 1996.

The Waikato electorate was re-established in 2006 for the 2008 election. ^[28]

Lindsay Tisch, who had been the MP for Piako since 2002, won Waikato at the 2008 election. ^[29] Tisch retained his seat in the 2011 election ^[30] and the 2014 election, but he announced he would not stand for the 2017 general election. ^[31] The seat was won by Tim van de Molen, retaining it for the National Party, who won it again in 2020.

The most recent boundary changes to Waikato occurred in 2020, when more area was added in its north and its south, as well as areas just outside Hamilton and Cambridge. ^[2]

Three of the five National Party members of parliament for Waikato were cabinet ministers.^{[ citation needed ]}

Members of Parliament

Key

  Independent   Conservative   Liberal   Reform   United   Labour   National

Election	Winner
1871 election		James McPherson
1872 by-election		William Jackson
1876 election		Frederick Whitaker
1879 election		John Blair Whyte
1881 election
1884 election
1887 election
1890 election		John Bryce
1891 by-election		Edward Lake
1893 election		Alfred Cadman
1896 election		Frederic Lang
1899 election
1902 election
1905 election		Henry Greenslade
1908 election
1911 election		Alexander Young
1914 election
1919 election
1922 election		Frederick Lye
1925 election		Stewart Reid
1928 election		Frederick Lye (2nd term)
1931 election
1935 election		Robert Coulter
1938 election		Stan Goosman
1943 election
1946 election		Geoffrey Sim
1949 election
1951 election
1954 election
1957 election
1960 election
(Electorate abolished 1963–1969)
1969 election		Lance Adams-Schneider
1972 election
1975 election
1978 election
1981 election		Simon Upton
1984 election		Rob Storey
1987 election
1990 election
1993 election
(Electorate abolished 1996–2008)
2008 election		Lindsay Tisch
2011 election
2014 election
2017 election		Tim van de Molen
2020 election
2023 election

List MPs

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

Election	Winner
2008 election		Jacinda Ardern
2011 election		Barbara Stewart
2014 election
2020 election		James McDowall

Election results

2020 election

2020 general election: Waikato [32]
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 Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y Tim van de Molen		20,877	51.97	−10.21	15,562	37.72	−20.97
	Labour	Kerrin Leoni		15,661	38.98	+15.92	16,288	39.48	+15.30
	ACT	James McDowall		2,084	5.19	—	4,340	10.52	+9.88
	New Conservative	Caleb Ansell		1,551	3.86	—	1,053	2.55	+2.25
	Green						1,454	3.52	+0.47
	NZ First						1,117	2.71	−7.39
	Opportunities						518	1.26	−0.60
	Advance NZ						373	0.90	—
	Legalise Cannabis						173	0.42	+0.07
	Māori Party						145	0.35	-0.08
	ONE						87	0.21	—
	Vision NZ						46	0.11	—
	Outdoors						30	0.07	−0.01
	Sustainable NZ						20	0.05	—
	Social Credit						19	0.05	+0.01
	Heartland						16	0.04	—
	TEA						13	0.03	—
Informal votes				933			263
Total valid votes				41,106			41,517
	National hold		Majority	5,216	12.69	−25.90

2017 election

2017 general election: Waikato [33]
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 Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Tim van de Molen		24,560	61.33	-3.56	23,891	58.48	-1.51
	Labour	Brooke Loader		9,108	22.74	+3.65	9,844	24.1	+9.73
	NZ First	Stu Husband		3,716	9.28	-0.15	4,112	10.07	-0.68
	Green	Philippa Stevenson		2,113	5.28	—	1,240	3.04	-2.72
	Opportunities						759	1.86	—
	ACT						261	0.64	+0.11
	Māori Party						177	0.43	-0.11
	Legalise Cannabis						142	0.35	-0.15
	Conservative						123	0.3	-5.4
	Ban 1080						58	0.14	-0.11
	Outdoors						32	0.08	—
	United Future						26	0.06	-0.16
	People's Party						18	0.04	—
	Democrats						15	0.04	-0.07
	Mana						5	0.01	-0.48 [lower-alpha 1]
	Internet						4	0.01	-0.48 [lower-alpha 2]
Informal votes				548			146
Total valid votes				40,045			40,853
	National hold		Majority	15,452	38.59	-7.2

2014 election

2014 general election: Waikato [34]
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 Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y Lindsay Tisch		22,911	64.89	-0.01	21,598	59.99	+0.01
	Labour	Christine Greer		6,742	19.09	+0.69	5,303	14.73	-1.71
	NZ First	Barbara Stewart		3,330	9.43	+4.28	3,870	10.75	+2.65
	Conservative	Brian Dobbs		1,442	4.08	+0.34	2,053	5.70	+1.62
	ACT	Mike Burrow		290	0.82	-0.91	191	0.53	-1.40
	Democrats	Katherine Ransom		172	0.49	+0.14	38	0.11	-0.02
	Green						2,075	5.76	-1.26
	Māori Party						196	0.54	-0.05
	Legalise Cannabis						180	0.50	-0.04
	Internet Mana						178	0.49	+0.20
	Ban 1080						89	0.25	+0.25
	United Future						78	0.22	-0.55
	Independent Coalition						10	0.03	+0.03
	Civilian						8	0.02	+0.02
	Focus						6	0.02	+0.02
Informal votes				421			127
Total valid votes				35,308			36,000
	National hold		Majority	16,169	45.79	-0.71

2011 election

2011 general election: Waikato [30]
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 Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y Lindsay Tisch		19,817	64.90	+1.47	18,875	59.98	+2.54
	Labour	Kate Sutton		5,619	18.40	-4.52	5,173	16.44	-6.13
	Green	Cameron Harper		1,970	6.45	+1.77	2,208	7.02	+3.08
	NZ First	Barbara Stewart		1,571	5.15	+0.88	2,549	8.10	+2.81
	Conservative	Brian Dobbs		1,142	3.74	+3.74	1,284	4.08	+4.08
	ACT	Robin Boom		307	1.01	-2.43	607	1.93	-4.54
	Democrats	John Pemberton		107	0.35	-0.03	41	0.13	+0.01
	United Future						243	0.77	-0.11
	Māori Party						186	0.59	-0.14
	Legalise Cannabis						170	0.54	+0.16
	Mana						91	0.29	+0.29
	Libertarianz						28	0.09	+0.04
	Alliance						12	0.04	-0.04
Informal votes				775			298
Total valid votes				30,533			31,467
	National hold		Majority	14,198	46.50	+5.99

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 42,084 ^[35]

2008 election

2008 general election: Waikato [29]
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 Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y Lindsay Tisch		20,122	63.44		18,532	57.45
	Labour	Jacinda Ardern		7,272	22.93		7,280	22.57
	Green	Wendy Harper		1,484	4.68		1,271	3.94
	NZ First	Barbara Stewart		1,353	4.27		1,708	5.29
	ACT	Mark Davies		1,089	3.43		2,088	6.47
	Kiwi	James Ross		278	0.88		171	0.53
	Democrats	John Pemberton		122	0.38		40	0.12
	United Future						285	0.88
	Māori Party						235	0.73
	Bill and Ben						195	0.60
	Progressive						188	0.58
	Legalise Cannabis						123	0.38
	Family Party						87	0.27
	Alliance						25	0.08
	Libertarianz						15	0.05
	Workers Party						8	0.02
	Pacific						4	0.01
	RAM						3	0.01
	RONZ						1	0.003
Informal votes				245			107
Total valid votes				31,720			32,259
	National win new seat		Majority	12,850	40.51

1935 election

1935 general election: Waikato ^[36]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Coulter	4,258	44.01
	United	Frederick Lye	3,474	35.90	−20.95
	Country Party	Solomon Netheim Ziman [nb 1]	1,221	12.62	−30.53
	Democrat	Dr. H E Annett	722	7.46
Informal votes			155	1.60	+0.69
Majority			784	8.10
Turnout			9,675	87.38	+9.46
Registered electors			11,072

Table footnotes:

1. Ziman was the father of John Ziman ^[37]

1931 election

1931 general election: Waikato ^[38]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United	Frederick Lye	4,072	56.85
	Country Party	Solomon Netheim Ziman [nb 1]	3,091	43.15
Majority			981	13.70
Informal votes			66	0.91
Turnout			7,229	77.92
Registered electors			9,277

Table footnotes:

1. Ziman was the father of John Ziman ^[39]

1928 election

1928 general election: Waikato ^{[40] [41]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United	Frederick Lye	2,979	38.34
	Reform	Stewart Reid	2,893	37.24
	Country Party	Patrick Keegan	1,897	24.42
Majority			86	1.11
Informal votes			70	0.89
Turnout			7,839	85.04
Registered electors			9,218

1908 election

1908 general election: Waikato, first ballot ^[42]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Henry Greenslade	3,305	54.03
	Conservative	Allen Bell	2,812	45.97
Majority			493	8.06
Turnout			6,117	83.01
Registered electors			7,369

1899 election

1899 general election: Waikato ^{[43] [44]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frederic Lang	2,337	53.70
	Liberal	John Hosking	2,015	46.30
Majority			322	7.40
Turnout			4,352	82.39
Registered electors			5,282

1891 by-election

1891 Waikato by-election ^[45]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Edward Lake	697	60.14
	Independent	William Murray	462	39.86
Majority			235	20.28
Informal votes			10	0.86
Turnout			1,169	52.28

Notes

1. 2017 Mana Party swing is relative to the votes for Internet-Mana in 2014; it shared a party list with the Internet Party in the 2014 election
2. 2017 Internet Party swing is relative to the votes for Internet-Mana in 2014; it shared a party list with Mana Party in the 2014 election

References

1. "Boundary Review 2019/20 | Elections". elections.nz. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
2. "Electorate Map". elections.nz. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
3. Rowland, Tom (7 August 2020). "Election 2020: National and Labour eye the Waikato region as beating heart to New Zealand". NZ Herald. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
4. Scholefield 1950, p. 165.
5. Scholefield 1950, p. 124.
6. Scholefield 1950, p. 116.
7. Scholefield 1950, p. 147.
8. Stone, R. C. J. "Whitaker, Frederick – Biography". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Ministry for Culture and Heritage . Retrieved 14 March 2012.
9. Scholefield 1950, p. 144.
10. Scholefield 1950, pp. 87, 147.
11. Scholefield 1950, p. 97.
12. Wilson 1985, p. 211.
13. Scholefield 1950, p. 99.
14. Scholefield 1950, p. 119.
15. Scholefield 1950, p. 109.
16. Scholefield 1950, p. 149.
17. Scholefield 1950, p. 121.
18. Scholefield 1950, p. 134.
19. Scholefield 1950, p. 102.
20. "Waikato - Preliminary Count". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
21. Scholefield 1950, p. 139.
22. Wilson 1985.
23. McRobie 1989, pp. 108, 111, 112.
24. McRobie 1989, p. 111.
25. McRobie 1989, pp. 107, 111.
26. McRobie 1989, pp. 108, 112.
27. McRobie 1989, pp. 111f.
28. "Report of the Representation Commission 2020" (PDF). 17 April 2020.
29. "Official Count Results – Waikato". Wellington: New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
30. "Official Count Results – Waikato". Wellington: New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
31. "MP Lindsay Tisch not to seek re-election". Stuff.co.nz. 20 June 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2017.
32. "Official Count Results — Waikato". Wellington: New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
33. "Official Count Results – Waikato". Wellington: New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
34. "Official Count Results – Waikato". Wellington: New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
35. "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
36. The General Election, 1935. National Library. 1936. pp. 1–35. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
37. "Ziman, John Michael" (PDF). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
38. The General Election, 1931. Government Printer. 1932. p. 5. Retrieved 17 December 2014.
39. "Ziman, John Michael" (PDF). Oxford University Press. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
40. Skinner, W. A. G. (1929). The General Election, 1928. Government Printer. p. 5. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
41. "General election". Waikato Times . Vol. 104, no. 17554. 8 November 1928. p. 9. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
42. AtoJs 1908 election 1909, p. 6.
43. "The General Election, 1899". Wellington: Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives. 19 June 1900. p. 1. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
44. "Official Declaration of Poll". Auckland Star . Vol. XXX, no. 296. 30 November 1899. p. 5. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
45. "Waikato electoral district". Waikato Times . Vol. XXXVII, no. 3003. 13 October 1891. p. 3. Retrieved 30 April 2020.

Bibliography

• McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN   0-477-01384-8.
• Mansfield, F. W. (1909). The General Election, 1908. National Library . Retrieved 25 April 2015.
• Scholefield, Guy (1950) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 (3rd ed.). Wellington: Govt. Printer.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC   154283103.

External links

• Electorate map from Elections NZ
• 1870 description of boundaries
• 1902 map
• 1911 map (page 29) and description of boundaries
• 1917 map (page 27) and description of boundaries
• 1937 map
• 1946 map