Wigram (New Zealand electorate)

Wigram electorate boundaries used since the 2014 election

Wigram is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the House of Representatives of New Zealand. The current MP for Wigram is Megan Woods. She took over this position from Jim Anderton, who had held this position from 1996 until 2011.

Population centres

Through an amendment in the Electoral Act in 1965, the number of electorates in the South Island was fixed at 25, an increase of one since the 1962 electoral redistribution.[1] It was accepted that through the more rapid population growth in the North Island, the number of its electorates would continue to increase, and to keep proportionality, three new electorates were allowed for in the 1967 electoral redistribution for the next election.[2] In the North Island, five electorates were newly created and one electorate was reconstituted while three electorates were abolished.[3] In the South Island, three electorates were newly created (including Wigram) and one electorate was reconstituted while three electorates were abolished.[4] The overall effect of the required changes was highly disruptive to existing electorates, with all but three electorates having their boundaries altered.[5] These changes came into effect with the 1969 election.[2]

Wigram is based around south-western Christchurch. The main suburbs in the seat are Spreydon, Hillmorton, Riccarton, Hornby and Sockburn. Following the 2013/2014 boundary review, it lost the suburb of Somerfield and parts of Hoon Hay to Port Hills.[6] The electorate's name comes from the suburb of Wigram, and by extension the former Wigram Aerodrome, itself named after colonial businessman Sir Henry Wigram.

History

The electorate had previously existed from 1969 to 1978, when it was held by Mick Connelly for Labour.

Wigram was one of the original sixty-five Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electorates created ahead of the 1996 election, when the number of South Island seats was reduced to sixteen. The formerly safe Labour seat of Sydenham lies at Wigram's core, and Labour's strong showing in the party vote in both 2002 and 2005, where the party won nearly half of all party votes cast, indicates that Wigram's political inclinations are left-leaning in nature. Its most well-known MP Jim Anderton was himself the Labour MP for Sydenham between 1984 and 1989, before he split from the party over its political directions and formed the NewLabour Party, which later merged into the Alliance; the Alliance disintegrated in 2002, but Anderton, by then the leader of the Progressive Party held off all challengers to easily hold the seat. In the 2011 election, the seat reverted to Labour candidate Megan Woods after his retirement, but the National Party comfortably won the party vote.[7] The chairman of the Canterbury-Westland branch of the National Party, Roger Bridge, stated in April 2014 that Woods had a low profile and the Wigram electorate was now "winnable".[8] Woods won re-election in the 2014 election with a more than a doubled majority.[9]

Members of Parliament

Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and started at general elections.

Key  Labour    Alliance    Progressive  

Election Winner
1969 election Mick Connelly
1972 election
1975 election
(Electorate abolished 1978–1996)
1996 election Jim Anderton
1999 election
2002 election
2005 election
2008 election
2011 election Megan Woods
2014 election

Election results

2014 election

General election 2014: Wigram[9]

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 Megan Woods 14,519 48.95 +3.84 8,764 28.67 -1.94
National Karl Varley 11,189 37.72 -2.59 13,117 42.91 -1.64
Green Richard Wesley 2,324 7.83 +0.07 3,919 12.82 -0.34
Conservative Mark Peters 847 2.86 +0.34 1,102 3.61 +1.24
ACT Shaun Grieve 318 1.07 +1.07 317 1.04 +0.41
Internet Mana Lois McClintoch 213 0.72 +0.72 231 0.76 +0.56
Māori Te Whe Phillips 122 0.41 +0.41 145 0.47 +0.03
Democrats John Ring 79 0.27 +0.27 30 0.10 +0.10
Economic Euthenics Tubby Hansen 51 0.17 +0.00
NZ First   2,618 8.56 +2.52
Legalise Cannabis   154 0.50 -0.08
United Future   86 0.28 -0.50
Ban 1080   41 0.13 +0.13
Civilian   31 0.10 +0.10
Independent Coalition   7 0.02 +0.02
Focus   5 0.02 +0.02
Informal votes 401 136
Total Valid votes 29,662 30,567
Labour hold Majority 3,330 11.23 +6.43

2011 election

General election 2011: Wigram[7]

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 Megan Woods 14,080 45.11 +29.97 9,866 30.61 -9.58
National Sam Collins 12,580 40.31 +9.65 14,357 44.55 +6.63
Green Richard Wesley 2,423 7.76 +2.53 4,243 13.16 +6.22
Alliance Kevin Campbell 793 2.54 +2.38 158 0.49 +0.30
Conservative Mark Peters 785 2.52 +2.52 763 2.37 +2.37
Legalise Cannabis Geoffrey McTague 337 1.08 +1.08 186 0.58 +0.15
United Future Ian Gaskin 159 0.51 -1.03 251 0.78 -0.23
Economic Euthenics Tubby Hansen 53 0.17 +0.09
NZ First   1,948 6.04 +3.05
ACT   202 0.63 -1.23
Māori   141 0.44 -0.13
Mana   66 0.20 +0.20
Libertarianz   33 0.10 +0.04
Democrats   16 0.05 +0.01
Informal votes 775 305
Total Valid votes 31,210 32,230
Labour gain from Progressive Majority 1,500 4.81 +34.16

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 45,427[10]

2008 election

General election 2008: Wigram[11]

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 % ±%
Progressive Green tickY Jim Anderton 15,320 44.50 2,010 5.73
National Marc Alexander 10,553 30.66 13,308 37.91
Labour Erin Ebborn-Gillespie 5,214 15.15 14,108 40.19
Green Peter Taylor 1,802 5.23 2,436 6.94
NZ First Steve Campbell 471 1.37 1,050 2.99
ACT Matthew Gardiner 355 1.03 653 1.86
Kiwi Lindsay Cameron 321 0.93 322 0.92
United Future Vanessa Roberts 219 0.64 355 1.01
Alliance Tom Dowie 55 0.16 68 0.19
Libertarianz Ben Morgan 55 0.16 22 0.06
Democrats John Charles Ring 32 0.09 13 0.04
Economic Euthenics Michael Hansen 28 0.08
Bill and Ben   251 0.72
Māori   198 0.56
Legalise Cannabis   151 0.43
Family Party   83 0.24
Pacific   51 0.15
Workers Party   17 0.05
RONZ   5 0.01
RAM   1 0.00
Informal votes 440 291
Total Valid votes 34,425 35,102
Progressive hold Majority 4,767


2005 election

General election 2005: Wigram[12]

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 % ±%
Progressive Green tickY Jim Anderton 15,961 47.62 +11.94 2,191 6.46
National Alison Lomax 7,413 22.12 +8.27 9,895 29.16
Labour Paul Chalmers 6,408 19.12 -6.45 16,271 47.95
Green Richard Suggate 1,455 4.34 1,967 5.80
United Future Vanessa Roberts 988 2.95 1,313 3.87
NZ First Brian Roswell 912 2.72 1,577 4.65
ACT Tetauru Emile 203 0.61 255 0.75
Anti-Capitalist Alliance Sam Kingi 69 0.21
Alliance Tom Dowie 61 0.21 55 0.16
Economic Euthenics Michael Hansen 29 0.09
Direct Democracy Anton Foljambe 20 0.06 5 0.01
Destiny   112 0.33
Māori   90 0.27
Legalise Cannabis   89 0.26
Christian Heritage   52 0.15
Libertarianz   22 0.06
Democrats   15 0.04
RONZ   8 0.02
Family Rights   6 0.02
One NZ   4 0.01
99 MP   3 0.01
Informal votes 716 728
Total Valid votes 33,519 33,930
Progressive hold Majority 8,548 25.50 +15.39

Notes

  1. McRobie 1989, pp. 108, 111, 112.
  2. 1 2 McRobie 1989, p. 111.
  3. McRobie 1989, pp. 107, 111.
  4. McRobie 1989, pp. 108, 112.
  5. McRobie 1989, pp. 111f.
  6. Report of the Representation Commission 2014 (PDF). Representation Commission. 4 April 2014. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-477-10414-2. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  7. 1 2 "Official Count Results -- Wigram". Electoral Commission. 10 December 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  8. Conway, Glenn (26 April 2014). "National sets sights on Wigram". The Press. p. A16. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  9. 1 2 "Official Count Results -- Wigram". Electoral Commission. 4 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  10. "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  11. 2008 election results
  12. 2005 election results

References

External links

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