Christchurch Central

This article is about the Christchurch Central electorate. For the Christchurch central city suburb, see Christchurch Central City.
Christchurch Central electorate boundaries used since the 2014 election

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.

Population centres

Christchurch Central electorate boundaries for the 2008 and 2011 elections

The 1941 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 has won the seat in each election since the electorate's establishment, though a high turnout for the Alliance did see 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 18 August 1979 by-election, which was won by Geoffrey Palmer. Palmer would eventually go 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 announce 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 will 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 will choose their candidate for the next general election in June 2016, and one of their nominees will be prominent lawyer and earthquake claims advocate Duncan Webb.[14]

Members of Parliament

Christchurch Central has been represented by seven MPs. Since its creation in 1946 until the 2011 general election it had been a safe seat for the Labour Party. Since then, it has been held by the National Party.

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

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 Liz Gordon
Ron Mark
1999 election Liz Gordon
2005 election Nicky Wagner
2008 election

Election results

2014 election

General election 2014: Christchurch Central[15]

Notes: Green 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.
A Green tickY or Red XN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party Votes % ±%
National Green tickY 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 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 1]
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

General election 2011: Christchurch Central[16]

Notes: Green 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.
A Green tickY or Red XN 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 Red XN 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   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[17]

2008 election

General Election 2008: Christchurch Central[18]

Notes: Green 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.
A Green tickY or Red XN 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[19] 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   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

General Election 2005: Christchurch Central[20]

Notes: Green 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.
A Green tickY or Red XN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party Votes % ±%
Labour Green tickY 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
NZ First Kevin Gardener 1,022 3.04 1,391 4.04
Progressive Megan Woods 1,077 3.20 643 1.87
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 Darryl Gregory 188 0.56 116 0.34
Workers Party 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

General election 2002: Christchurch Central[21]

Notes: Green 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.
A Green tickY or Red XN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party Votes % ±%
Labour Green tickY Tim Barnett 17,190 56.2 13,853 43.4
National Nicky Wagner 6,837 22.4 5,338 17.0
Green 1,791 5.9 3,479 11.1
United Future 1,160 3.8 2,118 6.8
Christian Heritage 874 2.9 430 1.4
ACT 762 2.5 1,845 5.9
Progressive 761 2.5 930 3.0
Alliance Liz Gordon 635 2.1 598 1.9
Legalise Cannabis 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

General Election 1999: Christchurch Central[22][23]

Notes: Green 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.
A Green tickY or Red XN denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.

Party Candidate Votes % ±% Party Votes % ±%
Labour Green tickY 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
Future NZ Daryl Gregory 481 1.47 423
McGillicuddy Serious Cecil 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

General election 1996: Christchurch Central[24][25][26]

Notes: Green 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.
A Green tickY or Red XN 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 4,378 11.47

1993 election

General election, 1993: Christchurch Central[27]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Lianne Dalziel 9,841 55.21
National A Rowe 3,652 20.49
Alliance M Vercoe 3,501 19.64
Christian Heritage Tony Le Cren 413 2.32
McGillicuddy Serious K Kelly 240 1.35
Natural Law G Martin 126 0.71
Communist C Bain 52 0.29
Majority 6,189 34.72
Informal votes 764 4.11
Turnout 18,589 82.61
Registered electors 22,502

1987 election

General election, 1987: Christchurch Central[28]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Geoffrey Palmer 11,836 65.2 +1.8
National G L B Burnett 5,031 27.7
Democrats J E Pounsford 557 3.2 +0.1
Breakfast Party J K Daniels 235 1.3
Socialist Action F J Brereton 196 1.1
Wizard Party D J Hanlon 119 0.6
Values S V Symons 85 0.5
NZ Party L M Yeoman 70 0.4
Majority 6,805 37.5 -2.8
Turnout 22,043 85.5 -7.2

1984 election

General election, 1984: Christchurch Central[28]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Geoffrey Palmer 13,394 63.4 +0.2
National A A P Willy 4,886 23.1
NZ Party M Ludemann 2,072 9.8
Social Credit J E Pounsford 662 3.1
Independent S A Sadler 123 0.6
Majority 8,508 40.3 -0.8
Turnout 92.7 23,599 +6.9

1981 election

General election, 1981: Christchurch Central[28]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Geoffrey Palmer 10,793 63.2 -1.0
National I G B Wilson 3,765 22.1
Social Credit P E Admore 2,426 14.2
Communist W E C Iversen 78 0.5
Majority 7,028 41.1 -4.7
Turnout 20,048 85.8

1979 by-election

Christchurch Central by-election, 1979[29]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Geoffrey Palmer 6,149 64.20 +3.03
Social Credit Terry Heffernan 1,759 18.37 +9.02
National D P Duncan 1,634 17.06 -8.55
Tory S A Sadler 26 0.27
Economic Euthenics Michael Hansen 10 0.10
Majority 4,390 45.83 +10.27
Turnout 9,578
Labour hold Swing +11.58

Table footnotes

  1. ↑ 2014 Internet Mana swing is relative to the votes for Mana in 2011; it shared a party list with Internet in the 2014 election.

Notes

  1. ↑ McRobie 1989, pp. 91–96.
  2. ↑ "Electorate Boundaries". Electoral Commission. 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. 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.co.nz. 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. ↑ "Official Count Results – Christchurch Central". Electoral Commission. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2016.
  16. ↑ Christchurch Central results, 2011
  17. ↑ "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 11 November 2011. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
  18. ↑ election result Christchurch Central
  19. ↑ Byron Clark contested the seat in the 2005 election for the same party, which was then called the Anti-Capitalist Alliance.
  20. ↑ "Official Count Results -- Christchurch Central". Electoral Commission. 1 October 2005. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
  21. ↑ 2002 election results
  22. ↑ "Candidate vote details - hristchurch Central". October 2005.
  23. ↑ "Votes for registered parties by electorate". October 2005.
  24. ↑ "Electorate Candidate and Party Votes Recorded at Each Polling Place - Christchurch Central, 1996" (PDF). Retrieved 9 July 2013.
  25. ↑ "Part III - Party Lists of Successful Registered Parties" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  26. ↑ "Part III - Party Lists of unsuccessful Registered Parties" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
  27. ↑ Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1993. pp. 12, 161.
  28. 1 2 3 Norton 1988, pp. 206.
  29. ↑ Wilson 1985, p. 182.

References

External links

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