Whanganui (New Zealand electorate)

Whanganui electorate boundaries used since the 2014 election

Whanganui (known as Wanganui until 1996) is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It was first established in 1860 for the 3rd Parliament and has existed continuously since then.

Since the 2005 election, it has been held by Chester Borrows of the National Party.

Population centres

In the 1860 electoral redistribution, the House of Representatives increased the number of representatives by 12, reflecting the immense population growth since the original electorates were established in 1853. The redistribution created 15 additional electorates with between one and three members, and the Wanganui and Rangitikei electorate was split into two separate electorates: the Rangitikei electorate and the Wanganui electorate.^[1]

The electorate is based on the city of Whanganui, the towns Opunake and Hawera, and smaller centres Kaponga, Eltham, Normanby, Manaia, Patea and Waverley.

History

Henry Shafto Harrison was the first representative. His 7 February 1861 election was declared invalid. He stood again in the 1861 by-election and was elected again. He then served the electorate until the end of the term in 1866.^[2][3]

Harrison, John Bryce and John Garner contested the 1866 election. The nomination meeting was held on Friday, 2 March 1866. Harrison, Bryce and Garner received 51, 102 and 7 votes, respectively, at the election on the following day. Bryce was thus declared elected.^[4] Bryce resigned in 1867.^[5]

The resulting 6 May 1867 by-election was won by Harrison, and he served until the dissolution of Parliament on 30 December 1870.^[2]

Bryce was again elected in the 30 January 1871 election. This time, he served three parliamentary terms until the dissolution in November 1881.^[5]

Wanganui became a two-member electorate for the 12 January 1875–76 election. Apart from Bryce, Julius Vogel was elected, who was later to become Premier. Vogel resigned on 9 September 1876. ^[6]

The resulting 2 October 1876 by-election was won by William Fox, resulting in his second period of representation of this electorate. He served until the end of the term on 15 August 1879.^[7]

Bryce and John Ballance won the 1879 election. They both server until the end of the term, with Parliament being dissolved on 8 November 1881. ^[8]

For the 1881 election, the electorate reverted to being represented by a single member. The election, held on 9 December, was won by William Hogg Watt. He served until the end of the term, with Parliament being dissolved on 27 June 1884.^[9]

The 1884 election was once again won by John Ballance. This time, he would serve in three successive Parliaments. He died in office on 27 April 1893 during the 11th Parliament. ^[8] Ballance formed the Liberal Party after the 1890 election and became its leader, and thus introduced party politics to New Zealand. The Liberal Government of New Zealand would last for 21 years and is the longest serving government in New Zealand's history.

Ballance’s death triggered the 1893 by-election, which was held on 13 June and won by Archibald Willis, who was re-elected at the 1893 election a few months later.^[10]

Gilbert Carson was successful in the 1896 election. He served one term.^[11] He was succeeded by Willis in the 1899 election, who served two more terms for the electorate.^[10]

James Thomas Hogan won the 1905 election. He served two terms^[12] and was defeated in the 1911 election by Bill Veitch.

Veitch had a long career in the electorate, serving until 1935, when he defeated. He was initially an Independent, but joined the Liberal Party in 1925, and changed to the United Party in 1928.

Joseph Cotterill won the electorate in the 1935 election for the Labour Party. He also had a long career, retiring in 1960 from the Wanganui seat.

He was succeeded by his party colleague George Spooner in the 1960 election, who served three terms and was defeated in 1969 election by William Tolhurst from the National Party.

Tolhurst served one term and at the 1972 election, the electorate returned to Labour. Russell Marshall served six terms and retired in 1990.

In the 1990 election, Cam Campion secured the seat for National. He retired in 1993 and died two years after that.

The seat returned to Labour again, with Jill Pettis winning the 1993 election. She was the first woman to represent Wanganui. She served four terms, until she was defeated in the 2005 election by current holder of the electorate, Chester Borrows of the National Party.^[13] Pettis served an additional term as a List MP until 2008.

Several members (Fox, Vogel and Ballance) became Premier. Terry Heffernan stood in the electorate five times for four parties, from 1981 to 1993.

Members of Parliament

Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at a general election.

Key

Independent	Liberal	United Labour
United	Labour	National

single-member electorate

Election	Winner
1861 election		Henry Harrison
1861 by-election
1866 election		John Bryce
1867 by-election		Henry Harrison
1871 election		John Bryce

multi-member electorate

Election	Winners
1876 election		John Bryce		Julius Vogel
1876 by-election				William Fox
1879 election				John Ballance

single-member electorate

Election	Winner
1881 election		William Watt
1884 election		John Ballance
1887 election
1890 election
1893 by-election		Archibald Willis
1893 election
1896 election		Gilbert Carson
1899 election		Archibald Willis
1902 election
1905 election		James Thomas Hogan
1908 election
1911 election		Bill Veitch
1914 election
1919 election
1922 election
1925 election
1928 election
1931 election
1935 election		Joseph Cotterill
1938 election
1943 election
1946 election
1949 election
1951 election
1954 election
1957 election
1960 election		George Spooner
1963 election
1966 election
1969 election		William Tolhurst
1972 election		Russell Marshall
1975 election
1978 election
1981 election
1984 election
1987 election
1990 election		Cam Campion
1993 election		Jill Pettis
1996 election
1999 election
2002 election
2005 election		Chester Borrows
2008 election
2011 election
2014 election

List MPs

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

Election	Winner
2005 election		Jill Pettis

Election results

2011 election

General election, 2011: Whanganui[14]
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 or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party Votes	%	±%
	National	Chester Borrows		16,743	53.69	-2.61	15,151	47.56	+1.25
	Labour	Hamish McDouall		11,697	37.51	-0.10	8,733	27.41	-8.10
	Green	John Milnes		1,444	4.63	+0.19	2,855	8.96	+3.68
	NZ First	Ian Brougham		1,043	3.34	+3.34	3,035	9.53	+4.39
	ACT	Alan Daniel Davidson		135	0.43	-0.56	345	1.08	-1.99
	Democrats	Heather Marion Smith		121	0.39	-0.28	47	0.15	-0.07
	Conservative						1,030	3.23	-+3.23
	Māori						225	0.71	-0.29
	Legalise Cannabis						176	0.55	+0.21
	United Future						143	0.45	-0.20
	Mana						75	0.24	+0.24
	Libertarianz						22	0.07	+0.02
	Alliance						21	0.07	-0.02
Informal votes				616			235
Total Valid votes				31,183			31,858
	National hold		Majority	5,046	16.18	-2.51

Electorate (as at 11 November 2011): 43,350^[15]

2008 election

General election, 2008: Whanganui[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 or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party Votes	%	±%
	National	Chester Borrows		19,072	56.30		15,869	46.30
	Labour	Hamish McDouall		12,739	37.61		12,170	35.51
	Green	John Milnes		1,503	4.44		1,809	5.28
	ACT	Alan Davidson		336	0.99		1,052	3.07
	Democrats	Heather Marion Smith		225	0.66		73	0.21
	NZ First						1,761	5.14
	Māori						342	1.00
	Progressive						253	0.74
	Bill and Ben						249	0.73
	United Future						224	0.65
	Kiwi						186	0.54
	Legalise Cannabis						116	0.34
	Family Party						91	0.27
	Alliance						28	0.08
	Libertarianz						18	0.05
	Workers Party						16	0.05
	Pacific						10	0.03
	RONZ						3	0.01
	RAM						2	0.01
Informal votes				304			162
Total Valid votes				33,875			34,272
	National hold		Majority	6,333

2005 election

General election, 2005: Whanganui[17]
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 or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party Votes	%	±%
	National	Chester Borrows		15,846	49.28	+9.70	13,417	41.13
	Labour	N Jill Pettis		13,444	41.81	-4.56	13,045	39.99
	Green	John Milnes		1,171	3.64		1,466	4.49
	United Future	David Ball		502	1.56		885	2.71
	Māori	Aaron Makutu		429	1.33		265	0.841
	Progressive	Debbie Lucas		371	1.15		448	1.37
	One NZ	Ian Brougham		214	0.67		52	0.16
	Democrats	Malcolm Murchie		175	0.54		68	0.21
	NZ First						2,185	6.70
	ACT						296	0.91
	Destiny						282	0.86
	Legalise Cannabis						68	0.21
	Christian Heritage						62	0.19
	Alliance						31	0.10
	99 MP						18	0.06
	Libertarianz						16	0.05
	Family Rights						7	0.02
	RONZ						7	0.02
	Direct Democracy						6	0.02
Informal votes				376			144
	National gain from Labour		Majority	2,402	7.47	+14.26

1935 election

General election, 1935: Wanganui[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joseph Cotterill	4,887	46.30
	Democrat	Bill Veitch	3,318	31.44	-21.63
	Reform	N R Bain	1,754	16.62
	Independent Liberal	James Thomas Hogan	524	4.96
Majority			1,569	14.86
Informal votes			70	0.66
Turnout			10,553

1931 election

General election, 1931: Wanganui[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United	Bill Veitch	5,096	53.07	+5.52
	Labour	Bill Rogers	4,506	46.93	+19.79
Majority			590	6.14	-14.26
Informal votes			50	0.52	-0.05
Turnout			9,652	83.18	-4.55
Registered electors			11,604

1928 election

General election, 1928: Wanganui[20]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United	Bill Veitch	4,979	47.55	+4.28
	Labour	Bill Rogers	2,842	27.14	+4.80
	Reform	N. J. Lewis	2,650	25.31
Majority			2,137	20.41	+11.52
Informal votes			60	0.57	-0.11
Turnout			10,531	87.73	-4.09
Registered electors			12,004

1925 election

General election, 1925: Wanganui[21]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Bill Veitch	4,339	43.27
	Reform	John Coull[22]	3,448	34.39
	Labour	Bill Rogers	2,240	22.34
Majority			891	8.89
Informal votes			69	0.68
Turnout			10,096	91.82
Registered electors			10,996

1908 election

General election, 1908: Wanganui, first ballot[23]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal-Labour	James Thomas Hogan	3,041	45.85
	Opposition	George Hutchison	1,882	28.37
	Independent	Charles Mackay	1,710	25.78
Majority			1,159	17.47
Turnout			6,633	78.06
Registered electors			8,497

General election, 1908: Wanganui, second ballot[24]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal-Labour	James Thomas Hogan	3,602	54.30	+8.46
	Opposition	George Hutchison	2,860	43.12	14.74
Majority			742	11.19	-6.29
Turnout			6,462	76.05	-2.01
Registered electors			8,497

1899 election

General election, 1899: Wanganui[25][26]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Archibald Willis	2,878	55.83
	Opposition	Gilbert Carson	2,169	42.08
	Independent Liberal	John Michael Murphy	108	2.10
Majority			709	13.75
Turnout			5,155	80.53
Registered electors			6,401

1893 by-election

Wanganui by-election, 1893[27]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Archibald Willis	1,031	62.37
	Independent	Gilbert Carson	622	37.62
Majority			409	24.74
Turnout			1,653

Notes

1. McRobie 1989, pp. 32f.
2. Scholefield 1925, p. 100.
3. Wilson 1985, p. 203.
4. "The Wanganui Election". Wellington Independent XXI (2331). 6 March 1866. p. 4. Retrieved 19 August 2010.
5. Scholefield 1925, p. 81.
6. Scholefield 1925, pp. 142-143.
7. Scholefield 1925, p. 94.
8. Scholefield 1925, p. 77.
9. Scholefield 1925, p. 145.
10. Scholefield 1925, p. 147.
11. Scholefield 1925, p. 84.
12. Scholefield 1925, p. 103.
13. "Hon Chester Borrows". New Zealand Parliament. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
14. 2011 election results
15. "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 11 November 2011. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
16. 2008 election results
17. 2005 election results
18. The New Zealand Official Year-Book. Government Printer. 1936. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
19. The General Election, 1931. Government Printer. 1932. p. 5. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
20. The General Election, 1928. Government Printer. 1929. p. 5. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
21. The General Election, 1925. Government Printer. 1926. p. 3. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
22. "Local and General News". The New Zealand Herald LXII (19163). 31 October 1925. p. 12. Retrieved 28 November 2014.
23. AtoJs 1908 election 1909, p. 30.
24. AtoJs 1908 election 1909, p. 11.
25. "The General Election, 1899". Wellington: Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives. 19 June 1900. p. 3. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
26. "Electoral District of Wanganui". Wanganui Chronicle. XLIII (1500). 5 December 1899. p. 3. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
27. "Wanganui Election". Woodville Examiner VIII (2054). 12 June 1893. p. 3. Retrieved 1 April 2016.

References

• Mansfield, F. W. (1909). The General Election, 1908. National Library. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
• Scholefield, Guy (1925) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record (2nd 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 Profile Parliamentary Library