Christchurch Central

This article is about the Christchurch Central electorate. For the Christchurch central city suburb, see Christchurch Central City.

Christchurch Central
Single-member constituency for the New Zealand House of Representatives
Location of Christchurch Centralwithin Canterbury
Region	Canterbury
Area	31.56 km2 (12.19 sq mi)
Current constituency
Current MP	Duncan Webb
Party	Labour

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.

Population centres

Christchurch Central electorate boundaries for the 2008 and 2011 elections

The 1941 New Zealand census had been postponed due to World War II, so the 1946 electoral redistribution had to take ten years of population growth and movements into account. The North Island gained a further two electorates from the South Island due to faster population growth. The abolition of the country quota through the Electoral Amendment Act, 1945 reduced the number and increased the size of rural electorates. None of the existing electorates remained unchanged, 27 electorates were abolished, eight former electorates were re-established, and 19 electorates were created for the first time, including Christchurch Central. ^[1]

As the name suggests, the electorate covers the Christchurch Central City, plus several inner suburbs to the north and east of the central city. Since the 2008 election, the following suburbs, in alphabetical order, are at least partially located in the electorate: Avonside, Central City, Edgeware, Linwood, Mairehau, Merivale, North Linwood, Northcote, Papanui, Phillipstown, Redwood, Richmond, Shirley, St Albans, Sydenham, and Waltham. ^[2] In the 2013/14 redistribution, the electorate lost Mairehau and Shirley to Christchurch East and gained more of Sydenham and Beckenham from Port Hills and more of Redwood from Waimakariri. ^[3]

History

The Christchurch Central electorate was created in 1946. ^[4] Labour held the seat for the next 65 years, though a high turnout for the Alliance saw Tim Barnett's 1996 majority come in at under a thousand. The incumbent, Brendon Burns, had a majority in the 2008 election of also just under one thousand. ^[5]

The first representative was Robert Macfarlane, who had earlier represented the Christchurch South electorate. He held Christchurch Central until the 1969 election, when he retired. He was succeeded by Bruce Barclay, who died in office in 1979. This caused the 1979 by-election held on 18 August, which was won by Geoffrey Palmer. Palmer eventually went on to become Prime Minister. ^[6]

Palmer retired at the 1990 election and was succeeded by Lianne Dalziel. At the 1996 election, i.e. with the advent of MMP, Dalziel did not contest an electorate but stood as a list candidate only. Tim Barnett succeeded her and held the electorate until the 2008 election, when he retired. Brendon Burns succeeded Barnett.

The election night results for the 2011 election resulted in a tie; Burns and Nicky Wagner of the National Party received 10,493 votes each. The outcome of the election thus depended on the special votes. ^[7] This was the first time a tie result had been achieved since 1928. ^[8] When the final vote count was announced on 10 December, Wagner was declared the winner with a majority of 45 over Burns, making the result the second-smallest majority after Waitakere. Due to the closeness of the results a judicial recount was held where Wagner's majority increased by 2 votes to 47. ^{[9] [10]}

When draft electoral boundary changes were released, Wagner declared the electorate "unwinnable" for National. Although she was expected to not contest the 2014 general election, she announced at the end of January 2014 that she would try to defend her seat. ^[11] Labour chose Tony Milne as their candidate for Christchurch Central. ^[12] Wagner had a 2,420 majority over Milne. ^[13] The Labour Party chose Duncan Webb as its candidate for the 2017 general election. He is a prominent lawyer and earthquake claims advocate. ^[14] Webb narrowly won the seat in 2017, and massively increased his majority at the 2020 election amid that year's Labour landslide.

Members of Parliament

Christchurch Central has been represented by eight MPs. Since its creation in 1946 until the 2011 general election it had been a safe seat for the Labour Party. It was then held by the National Party until the 2017 general election when it swung back to Labour.

Key  Labour   Alliance   NZ First   National

Election	Winner
1946 election		Robert Macfarlane
1949 election
1951 election
1954 election
1957 election
1960 election
1963 election
1966 election
1969 election		Bruce Barclay
1972 election
1975 election
1978 election
1979 by-election		Geoffrey Palmer
1981 election
1984 election
1987 election
1990 election		Lianne Dalziel
1993 election
1996 election		Tim Barnett
1999 election
2002 election
2005 election
2008 election		Brendon Burns
2011 election		Nicky Wagner
2014 election
2017 election		Duncan Webb
2020 election
2023 election

List MPs

Members of Parliament elected from party lists in elections where that person also unsuccessfully contested the Christchurch Central electorate.

Election	Winner
1996 election		Ron Mark
		Liz Gordon
1999 election
2005 election		Nicky Wagner
2008 election
2017 election
2023 election		Kahurangi Carter

Election results

2023 election

2023 general election: Christchurch Central [15]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Duncan Webb		15,553	39.68	-19.60	11,357	28.49	-24.73
	National	Dale Stephens		13,712	34.98	+10.62	12,403	31.11	+11.66
	Green	Kahurangi Carter		5,441	13.88		7,746	19.43	+6.74
	NZ First	Mark Arneil		1,563	3.98	-2.63	2,073	5.20	+3.08
	ACT	Matthew Fisken		1,395	3.55		2,646	6.63	+0.48
	Legalise Cannabis	Michael Britnell		680	1.73	-0.01	174	0.43	-0.20
	Animal Justice	Sarah Jackson		376	0.95		106	0.26
	Opportunities						2,042	5.12	-2.93
	Te Pāti Māori						405	1.01	+0.66
	New Zealand Loyal						253	0.63
	NewZeal						108	0.27	+0.04
	DemocracyNZ						82	0.20
	New Conservative						78	0.19	-0.98
	Freedoms NZ						71	0.17
	Women's Rights						59	0.14
	Leighton Baker Party						51	0.12
	New Nation						36	0.09
Informal votes				472			166
Total Valid votes				39,192			39,856
Turnout				39,856
	Labour hold		Majority	1,841	4.56	-30.36

2020 election

2020 general election: Christchurch Central [16]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Duncan Webb		23,931	59.28	+11.81	21,681	53.22	+12.65
	National	Dale Stephens		9,833	24.36	−14.91	7,921	19.45	−19.49
	Green	Chrys Horn		2,566	6.36	+0.78	5,168	12.69	+2.95
	ACT	Abigail Johnson		1,071	2.65	—	2,507	6.15	+5.72
	Legalise Cannabis	Michael Britnell		704	1.74	+0.88	257	0.63	+0.33
	NZ First	Mark Arneil		544	1.35	-1.76	862	2.12	−3.09
	New Conservative	Benjamin Price		430	1.07	—	478	1.17	+0.91
	Advance NZ	Carole Church		355	0.88	—	325	0.80	—
	ONE	Ken Webb		143	0.35	—	92	0.23	—
	Independent	Hayden Laurie		93	0.23	—
	Opportunities						887	2.19	−1.29
	Māori Party						142	0.35	−0.03
	Outdoors						24	0.06	+0.01
	Sustainable NZ						24	0.06	—
	Vision NZ						22	0.05	—
	Social Credit						20	0.05	+0.04
	TEA						11	0.03	—
	Heartland						2	0.005	—
Informal votes				699			312
Total Valid votes				40,369			40,735
Turnout				40,735
	Labour hold		Majority	14,098	34.92	+26.72

2017 election

2017 general election: Christchurch Central [17]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Duncan Webb		16,631	47.47	+8.54	14,541	40.57	+14.31
	National	N Nicky Wagner		13,760	39.27	−6.95	13,956	38.94	−5.72
	Green	Peter Richardson		1,957	5.58	−2.85	3,492	9.74	−6.08
	NZ First	Phil Robinson		1,091	3.11	−0.64	1,869	5.21	−1.98
	Opportunities	Doug Hill		879	2.50	—	1,246	3.47	—
	Legalise Cannabis	Janine Shufflebotham		304	0.86	—	108	0.30	−0.18
	United Future	Ian Gaskin		80	0.22	—	45	0.12	−0.05
	ACT						155	0.43	−0.06
	Māori Party						139	0.38	−0.08
	Conservative						94	0.26	−2.85
	Outdoors						21	0.05	—
	Ban 1080						21	0.05	−0.03
	People's Party						16	0.04	—
	Mana Party						11	0.03	−1.00 [lower-alpha 1]
	Internet						8	0.02	−1.01 [lower-alpha 2]
	Democrats						5	0.01	−0.08
Informal votes				331			111
Total Valid votes				35,033			35,838
Turnout				36,220	81.01 [18]	+2.51
	Labour gain from National		Majority	2,871	8.20	+15.49

2014 election

2014 general election: Christchurch Central [19]
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 Nicky Wagner		15,346	46.22	+1.69	15,301	44.66	+0.03
	Labour	Tony Milne		12,926	38.93	−5.43	8,995	26.25	−3.15
	Green	David Moorhouse		2,800	8.43	−0.14	5,419	15.82	−0.44
	NZ First	George Abraham		1,245	3.75	+3.75	2,462	7.19	+2.23
	Conservative	Michael Cooke		598	1.80	+0.18	1,065	3.11	+1.37
	ACT	Toni Severin		122	0.37	−0.04	167	0.49	−0.29
	Māori Party	Lenis Davidson		109	0.33	+0.33	157	0.46	−0.04
	Democrats	Robin Columbus		57	0.17	+0.17	30	0.09	+0.06
	Internet Mana						353	1.03	+0.67 [lower-alpha 3]
	Legalise Cannabis						165	0.48	−0.16
	United Future						79	0.23	−0.31
	Civilian						40	0.12	+0.12
	Ban 1080						27	0.08	+0.08
	Independent Coalition						3	0.01	+0.01
	Focus						1	0.00	+0.00
Informal votes				281			108
Total Valid votes				33,203			34,264
Turnout				34,480	78.01	+6.32
	National hold		Majority	2,420	7.29	+7.12

2011 election

2011 general election: Christchurch Central [20]
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	Nicky Wagner		12,064	44.53	+3.61	12,506	44.63	+7.05
	Labour	N Brendon Burns		12,017	44.36	+0.52	8,240	29.40	-9.96
	Green	David Moorhouse		2,321	8.57	+0.14	4,556	16.26	+5.09
	Conservative	Michael Cooke		439	1.62	+1.62	487	1.74	+1.74
	Independent	Luke Chandler		138	0.51	+0.51
	ACT	Toni Severin		110	0.41	-1.09	219	0.78	-1.93
	NZ First						1,391	4.96	+1.83
	Legalise Cannabis						180	0.64	+0.08
	United Future						151	0.54	-0.18
	Māori Party						139	0.50	-0.20
	Mana						100	0.36	+0.36
	Alliance						24	0.09	-0.04
	Libertarianz						22	0.08	+0.01
	Democrats						9	0.03	-0.02
Informal votes				532			237
Total Valid votes				27,089			28,024
	National gain from Labour		Majority	47	0.17	+3.08

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 39,419 ^[21]

2008 election

2008 general election: Christchurch Central [22]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Brendon Burns		14,078	43.83	-8.74	12,999	39.36	-8.95
	National	Nicky Wagner		13,143	40.92	+11.65	12,409	37.58	+7.07
	Green	Jan McLauchlan		2,708	8.43	+1.78	3,688	11.17	+1.47
	Progressive	Somnath Bagchi		598	1.86	-1.34	697	2.11	+0.25
	Legalise Cannabis	Michael Britnell		487	1.52	–	187	0.57	+0.20
	ACT	Toni Severin		482	1.50	+0.49	897	2.72	+1.66
	Kiwi	Andrew Beaven		353	1.10	–	218	0.66	–
	Workers Party	Byron Clark [lower-alpha 4]		164	0.51	+0.24	33	0.10
	Alliance	Greg Kleis		103	0.32	–	41	0.12	+0.01
	NZ First						1,036	3.14	-0.90
	United Future						239	0.72	-2.32
	Māori Party						230	0.70	0.36
	Bill and Ben						187	0.57	–
	Family Party						87	0.26	–
	Pacific						31	0.09	–
	Libertarianz						21	0.06	+0.04
	Democrats						16	0.05	+0.00
	RONZ						5	0.02	+0.00
	RAM						2	0.01	–
Informal votes				306			119
Total Valid votes				32,116			33,023
	Labour hold		Majority	935	2.91	-20.38

2005 election

2005 general election: Christchurch Central [23]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Tim Barnett		17,685	52.57		16,652	48.31
	National	Nicky Wagner		9,849	29.28		10,515	30.51
	Green	Natalie Cutler-Welsh		2,236	6.65		3,342	9.70
	Progressive	Megan Woods		1,077	3.20		643	1.87
	NZ First	Kevin Gardener		1,022	3.04		1,391	4.04
	United Future	John van Buren		761	2.26		1,048	3.04
	ACT	Shirley Marshall		340	1.01		364	1.06
	Destiny	Anita Breach		338	1.01		144	0.42
	Māori Party	Darryl Gregory		188	0.56		116	0.34
	Anti-Capitalist Alliance	Byron Clark		90	0.27
	Communist League	Annalucia Vermunt		53	0.16
	Legalise Cannabis						125	0.36
	Alliance						40	0.12
	Christian Heritage						37	0.11
	Democrats						15	0.04
	99 MP						10	0.03
	Libertarianz						9	0.03
	Direct Democracy						7	0.02
	RONZ						5	0.01
	Family Rights						4	0.01
	One NZ						2	0.01
Informal votes				410			193
Total Valid votes				33,639			34,469
	Labour hold		Majority	7,836

2002 election

2002 general election: Christchurch Central [24]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Tim Barnett		17,190	56.2		13,853	43.4
	National	Nicky Wagner		6,837	22.4		5,338	17.0
	Green	Matt Morris		1,791	5.9		3,479	11.1
	United Future	Stephen Russell		1,160	3.8		2,118	6.8
	Christian Heritage	Vic Pollard		874	2.9		430	1.4
	ACT	Anthony Watson		762	2.5		1,845	5.9
	Progressive	Fleur Churton		761	2.5		930	3.0
	Alliance	Liz Gordon		635	2.1		598	1.9
	Legalise Cannabis	Jeanette Saxby		469	1.5		327	1.0
	Communist League	Appu Baskaran		99	0.3
	NZ First						2,106	6.7
	ORNZ						280	0.9
	One NZ						16	0.1
	Mana Māori						10	<0.1
	NMP						3	(0.1
Informal votes				516			135
Total Valid votes				30,578			31,333
	Labour hold		Majority	10,353

1999 election

1999 general election: Christchurch Central [25] [26]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Tim Barnett		17,229	52.80		13,407
	National	John Stringer		7,825	23.98		8,887
	Alliance	Liz Gordon		2,690	8.24		3,369
	Green	Diana Pennell		1,658	5.08		2,421
	ACT	Katherine Sillars		951	2.91		1,731
	Christian Heritage	John Bryant		689	2.11		695
	NZ First	John Ballantyne		641	1.96		880
	Christian Democrats	Daryl Gregory		481	1.47		423
	McGillicuddy Serious	Cecil G. Murgatroyd		232	0.71		56
	Independent	David Ball		132	0.40
	Communist League	Ruth Gray		51	0.16
	National Democrats	Anton Foljambe		44	0.13
	Dominion Workers	Clifford Mundy		9	0.03
	Legalise Cannabis						584
	United NZ						154
	Libertarianz						132
	South Island						69
	Animals First						58
	Natural Law						17
	Mauri Pacific						7
	One NZ						7
	Republican						7
	Mana Māori						6
	NMP						4
	Freedom Movement						2
	People's Choice Party						2
Informal votes							267
Total Valid votes							32,918
	Labour hold		Majority	9,404

1996 election

1996 general election: Christchurch Central [27] [28] [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	%	±%
	Labour	Tim Barnett		9,689	32.28		9,967	32.79
	National	Kerry Sullivan		9,036	30.10		9,355	30.77
	Alliance	Liz Gordon		6,377	21.25		4,372	14.38
	NZ First	Ron Mark		3,067	10.22		2,434	8.01
	ACT	Matthew Ball		953	3.18		1,517	4.99
	Progressive Greens	Gillian Baillie		386	1.29		106	0.35
	United NZ	Jacinta Grice		224	0.75		226	0.74
	Natural Law	Raymond Cain		112	0.37		66	0.22
	Independent	David Christopher Ball		102	0.34
	Communist League	Patrick Brown		69	0.23
	Christian Coalition						1,162	3.82
	Legalise Cannabis						931	3.06
	McGillicuddy Serious						102	0.34
	Animals First						85	0.28
	Green Society						19	0.06
	Superannuitants & Youth						16	0.05
	Mana Māori						11	0.04
	Ethnic Minority Party						10	0.03
	Conservatives						8	0.03
	Libertarianz						7	0.02
	Advance New Zealand						3	0.01
	Asia Pacific United						1	0.00
	Te Tawharau						1	0.00
Informal votes				476			92
Total Valid votes				30,015			30,399
	Labour hold		Majority	653	2.18

1993 election

1993 general election: Christchurch Central ^[30]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lianne Dalziel	9,841	55.21	+6.69
	National	Andrew Rowe	3,652	20.49
	Alliance	Michael Vercoe	3,501	19.64
	Christian Heritage	Tony Le Cren	413	2.32	+0.06
	McGillicuddy Serious	Kieran Kelly	240	1.35
	Natural Law	Glenda Martin	126	0.71
	Communist League	Carmen Bain	52	0.29
Majority			6,189	34.72
Informal votes			764	4.11
Turnout			18,589	82.61	+3.70
Registered electors			22,502

1990 election

1990 general election: Christchurch Central ^[31]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lianne Dalziel	8,487	48.52
	National	Ross Gluer	4,718	26.97
	NewLabour	Sidonie Bradbury-Moore	1,963	11.22
	Green	Ruth Gardner	1,541	8.81
	Christian Heritage	Tony Le Cren	396	2.26
	Democrats	Joe Pounsford	164	0.93	-2.27
	McGillicuddy Serious	Shane Dion Murphy	101	0.57
	Social Credit	Neville Minchington	94	0.53
	Communist League	Brigid Rotheram	27	0.15
Majority			3,769	21.54
Turnout			17,491	78.91	-3.33
Registered electors			22,163

1987 election

1987 general election: Christchurch Central ^[32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey Palmer	11,836	65.28	+1.92
	National	Graham Burnett	5,031	27.75
	Democrats	Joe Pounsford	557	3.07	+0.06
	Breakfast Party	James Daniels	235	1.29
	Socialist Action	Felicity Brereton	196	1.08
	Wizard Party	David Hanlon	119	0.65
	Values	Stephen Symons	85	0.46
	NZ Party	Lynn Yeoman	70	0.38
Majority			6,805	37.53	-2.72
Turnout			18,129	82.24	-7.32
Registered electors			22,043

1984 election

1984 general election: Christchurch Central ^[32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey Palmer	13,394	63.36	+0.11
	National	Tony Willy	4,886	23.11
	NZ Party	Murray Ludemann	2,072	9.80
	Social Credit	Joe Pounsford	662	3.13
	Independent	Suzanne Sadler	123	0.58
Majority			8,508	40.25	-0.94
Turnout			21,137	89.56	+4.46
Registered electors			23,599

1981 election

1981 general election: Christchurch Central ^[32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey Palmer	10,793	63.25	-0.95
	National	Ian Wilson	3,765	22.06
	Social Credit	Peter Admore	2,426	14.21
	Independent	Warwick Iversen	78	0.45
Majority			7,028	41.19	-4.64
Turnout			17,062	85.10	+49.10
Registered electors			20,048

1979 by-election

1979 Christchurch Central by-election ^[32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey Palmer	6,149	64.20	+3.03
	Social Credit	Terry Heffernan	1,759	18.37	+9.02
	National	David Duncan	1,634	17.06	-8.55
	Tory	Suzanne Sadler	26	0.27
	Economic Euthenics	Tubby Hansen	10	0.10
Majority			4,390	45.83	+10.27
Turnout			9,578	36.00
Registered electors			26,605
	Labour hold		Swing	+11.58

1978 election

1978 general election: Christchurch Central ^[32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bruce Barclay	10,229	61.17	+8.21
	National	Gwen Clucas	4,282	25.60
	Social Credit	Robert Gyde	1,564	9.35
	Values	Robin Duff	616	3.68
	Socialist Action	Michael William Gourley	30	0.17
Majority			5,947	35.56	+17.32
Turnout			16,721	52.32	-18.19
Registered electors			31,956

1975 election

1975 general election: Christchurch Central ^[32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bruce Barclay	8,630	52.96	-7.96
	National	Tim Armitage	5,657	34.71
	Values	Robin Duff	1,415	8.68
	Social Credit	Alan Easterbrook	555	3.40
	Imperial British Conservative	Coronita Wealleans	37	0.22
Majority			2,973	18.24	-12.94
Turnout			16,294	70.51	-14.49
Registered electors			23,107

1972 election

1972 general election: Christchurch Central ^[32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bruce Barclay	9,971	60.92	+2.87
	National	Barbara Beaven	4,868	29.74
	Social Credit	Ray Thomas	700	4.27
	Values	Diane Roberts	693	4.23
	Socialist Unity	Arnold James Cox	68	0.41
	New Democratic	Cairn George Jensen	66	0.40
Majority			5,103	31.18	+8.72
Turnout			16,366	85.00	-1.61
Registered electors			19,252

1969 election

1969 general election: Christchurch Central ^[33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bruce Barclay	8,801	58.05
	National	Colin Knight	5,395	35.58
	Social Credit	Stan Fitchett	964	6.35
Majority			3,406	22.46
Turnout			15,160	86.61	+6.79
Registered electors			17,502

1966 election

1966 general election: Christchurch Central ^[33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Macfarlane	6,771	49.32	-2.92
	National	Fred Francis	5,362	39.06
	Social Credit	Lola Thompson	1,455	10.60	+3.11
	Communist	Jack Locke	138	1.00	-0.26
Majority			1,409	10.26	-2.98
Turnout			13,726	79.82	-4.10
Registered electors			17,196

1963 election

1963 general election: Christchurch Central ^[33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Macfarlane	7,552	52.24	-1.52
	National	Dave Patchett	5,637	38.99
	Social Credit	Lola Thompson	1,084	7.49
	Communist	Jack Locke	183	1.26	+0.21
Majority			1,915	13.24	-2.09
Turnout			14,456	83.92	-0.69
Registered electors			17,225

1960 election

1960 general election: Christchurch Central ^[33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Macfarlane	6,786	53.76	-7.01
	National	Tom Flint	4,851	38.43
	Social Credit	Walter Green	851	6.74
	Communist	Jack Locke	133	1.05	-0.01
Majority			1,935	15.33	-12.90
Turnout			12,621	84.61	-4.62
Registered electors			14,916

1957 election

1957 general election: Christchurch Central ^[33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Macfarlane	8,763	60.77	+6.84
	National	Colin McLachlan	4,692	32.54
	Social Credit	William John Campbell	811	5.62
	Communist	Jack Locke	153	1.06
Majority			4,071	28.23	+3.30
Turnout			14,419	89.23	+3.15
Registered electors			16,158

1954 election

1954 general election: Christchurch Central ^[33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Macfarlane	7,345	53.93	-8.79
	National	Oliver G. Moody	3,950	29.00
	Social Credit	Albert E. Willyams	2,185	16.04
	Communist	Alec Ostler	137	1.00
Majority			3,395	24.93	-0.89
Turnout			13,617	86.08	+3.61
Registered electors			15,819

1951 election

1951 general election: Christchurch Central ^[34]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Macfarlane	6,901	62.72	-1.81
	National	Alma Schumacher	4,103	37.28
Majority			2,798	25.42	-5.50
Turnout			11,004	82.47	-6.90
Registered electors			13,343

1949 election

1949 general election: Christchurch Central ^[35]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Macfarlane	7,589	64.53	-1.96
	National	Kevin Marlow	3,952	33.60
	Communist	Alec Ostler	218	1.85	-0.56
Majority			3,637	30.92	-4.49
Turnout			11,759	89.37	+0.40
Registered electors			13,157

1946 election

1946 general election: Christchurch Central ^[36]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert Macfarlane	8,300	66.49
	National	Alan J. Wills	3,880	31.08
	Communist	Alec Ostler	302	2.41
Majority			4,420	35.41
Turnout			12,482	88.97
Registered electors			14,028

Table footnotes

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
3. 2014 Internet Mana swing is relative to the votes for Mana in 2011; it shared a party list with Internet in the 2014 election.
4. Byron Clark contested the seat in the 2005 election for the same party, which was then called the Anti-Capitalist Alliance.

Notes

1. McRobie 1989, pp. 91–96.
2. "Electorate Boundaries". Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2011.
3. Report of the Representation Commission 2014 (PDF). Representation Commission. 4 April 2014. p. 10. ISBN   978-0-477-10414-2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 October 2014. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
4. Scholefield, Guy (1950) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 (3rd ed.). Wellington: Govt. Printer. p. 156.
5. New Zealand Parliament — Brendon Burns MP
6. "Geoffrey Palmer". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 9 July 2010. Retrieved 19 November 2011.
7. "Unprecedented dead heat in ChCh central". The Press . 26 November 2011. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
8. "Nail-biting dead heat in Christchurch". 27 November 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2013.
9. "Election results to declare new Govt". The New Zealand Herald . 10 December 2011. Retrieved 12 December 2011.
10. Chapman, Kate (14 December 2011). "Recount confirms Christchurch central seat". Stuff . Retrieved 21 September 2014.
11. Conway, Glenn (30 January 2014). "Wagner to defend Chch Central seat". The Press . Retrieved 8 March 2014.
12. Robinson, Shelley (8 March 2014). "Tony Milne to run for Chch Central". The Press . Retrieved 8 March 2014.
13. Mathewson, Nicole; Stylianou, Georgina; Fulton, Tim (21 September 2014). "Election 2014: Canterbury decides". The Press . Retrieved 21 September 2014.
14. Stylianou, Georgina (4 May 2016). "Claims advocate to seek election". The Press . p. A7. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
15. "Christchurch Central – Official Result". Electoral Commission . Retrieved 9 November 2023.
16. "Christchurch Central – Official Result". Electoral Commission. n.d. Retrieved 9 January 2021.
17. "Official Count Results – Christchurch Central (2017)". Electoral Commission. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
18. "Party Votes and Turnout by Electorate". Electoral Commission . Retrieved 27 January 2018.
19. "Official Count Results – Christchurch Central". Electoral Commission. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
20. Christchurch Central results, 2011
21. "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 11 November 2011. Archived from the original on 10 November 2011. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
22. Official Count Results – Christchurch Central 2008
23. "Official Count Results – Christchurch Central". Electoral Commission. 1 October 2005. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
24. 2002 election results
25. "Official Count Results (1999) – Electoral Votes for registered parties by electorate". NZ Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 14 January 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
26. "Official Count Results (1999) – Candidate Vote Details". NZ Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 14 January 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
27. "Electorate Candidate and Party Votes Recorded at Each Polling Place – Christchurch Central, 1996" (PDF). Retrieved 9 July 2013.
28. "Part III – Party Lists of Successful Registered Parties" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
29. "Part III – Party Lists of unsuccessful Registered Parties" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
30. Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1993. pp. 12, 161.
31. Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1990. p. 17.
32. Norton 1988, p. 206.
33. Norton 1988, p. 205.
34. "The New Zealand Official Year-Book, 1951–52". Statistics New Zealand. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
35. "The General Election, 1949". National Library. 1950. pp. 1–5, 8. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
36. "The General Election, 1946". National Library. 1947. pp. 1–11, 14. Retrieved 1 January 2014.

References

• McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN   0-477-01384-8.
• Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946-1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN   0-475-11200-8.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC   154283103.

External links

• Electorate Profile — 2005 Archived 29 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine , Parliamentary Library
• Electorate Profile — 2008, Parliamentary Library