Selwyn (New Zealand electorate)

Selwyn electorate boundaries used since the 2014 election

Selwyn is a current electorate in the New Zealand House of Representatives, composed of towns on the outskirts of Christchurch city. The electorate was first formed for the 1866 election and has been abolished three times during its history. It was last re-established for the 2008 election and has since been held by Amy Adams for the National Party.

Population centres

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, 19 electorates were created for the first time, and eight former electorates were re-established, including Selwyn.^[1]

The Selwyn electorate is the successor to the old electorate of Rakaia, which loses the town of Ashburton to Rangitata. In 2008, it contained the towns north of the Rakaia River and acquired the far western Bishopdale-Harewood area from Waimakariri and the Banks Peninsula town of Akaroa from the old Banks Peninsula electorate. The main towns in the seat were Templeton, Lincoln, Prebbleton, Tai Tapu, Leeston, Dunsandel, Darfield, Springfield and Arthur's Pass from Rakaia along with Halswell, Westmorland, and rural Banks Peninsula.

Due to the rapid growth of Selwyn relative to Christchurch (which lost population after the earthquakes), the 2013 redistribution has Selwyn losing Halswell and Westmorland to Port Hills and Harewood to Waimakariri while regaining the towns of Rakaia and Chertsey back from Rangitata.^[2]

History

In an historical sense, the name refers to an electorate that existed between 1866 and 1919. In the second sense, it can refer to an electorate contested between 1946 and 1972 and again from 1978 until it was absorbed by Rakaia for the first MMP election in 1996.

The dominant topic for the 1875 election was the abolition of the Provinces. William Reeves, the incumbent, favoured the retention of the provincial system of government, whilst his opponent, Cecil Fitzroy, was an abolitionist. Fitzroy, at 31-years of age 20 years Reeves' junior, narrowly won the election.^[3][4] Edward Lee acted as returning officer for the election.^[5]

In the 1879 election, John Hall was returned unopposed.^[6] In the 1881 election, Hall beat R. Lockhead by 467 to 169 votes.^[7][8]

In the 1890 election, Alfred Saunders, Thomas Hamilton Anson, and William Jerrington Popple received 536, 485 and 237 votes, respectively.^[9]

In a modern sense, the name refers to the seat re-created ahead of the 2008 general election, following a review of electoral boundaries conducted after the 2006 census of population and dwellings, because of a general northwards population movement in the South Island. Even though the number of South Island electorates is fixed, the decline in the population of electorates from Rakaia south has resulted in the boundaries of electorates from Invercargill north to Rakaia shifting further northwards.

The incumbent MP is Amy Adams of the National Party. The electorate is one of National's safest seats, with just 5% separating the Labour Party from the Greens in the 2011 election. The only places where Adams didn't win in 2011 were Arthur's Pass and Diamond Harbour. In the 2014 election, Adams got over 70% of the electorate votes based on preliminary results, with Peter Hill of the Green Party coming second.^[10][11]

Members of Parliament

Key:

  Independent     Conservative     Reform     Liberal     National     Green  

Election	Winner
1866 election		Edward Stevens
1871 election		William Reeves
1875 election		Cecil Fitzroy
1879 election		John Hall
1881 election
1883 by-election		Edward Lee
1884 by-election		Edward Wakefield
1884 election
1887 election		John Hall
1890 election		Alfred Saunders
1893 election
1896 election		Cathcart Wason
1899 election		Charles Hardy
1902 election
1905 election
1908 election
1911 election		William Dickie
1914 election
(Electorate abolished 1919–1946)
1946 election		John McAlpine
1949 election
1951 election
1954 election
1957 election
1960 election
1963 election
1966 election		Colin McLachlan
1969 election
(Electorate abolished 1972–1978, see Rakaia)
1978 election		Colin McLachlan
1981 election		Ruth Richardson
1984 election
1987 election
1990 election
1993 election
1994 by-election		David Carter
(Electorate abolished 1996–2008, see Banks Peninsula & Rakaia)
2008 election		Amy Adams
2011 election
2014 election

List MPs

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

Election	Winner
2011 election		Eugenie Sage

Election results

2014 election

General election 2014: Selwyn[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 or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party Votes	%	±%
	National	Amy Adams		24,625	69.97	+0.83	22,809	63.58	+0.93
	Green	Peter Selwyn Hill		4,064	11.55	+1.37	3,910	10.90	-0.54
	Labour	Gordon John Dickson		3,835	10.90	-4.37	4,654	12.97	-3.15
	NZ First	Bill Woods		1,841	5.23	+1.69	2,494	6.95	+2.20
	Conservative	Roger Clibborn		619	1.76	-0.12	1,253	3.49	+1.03
	Māori	Sheryl Gardyne		129	0.37	+0.37	111	0.31	-0.06
	ACT	Paul Gilbert		83	0.24	+0.24	139	0.39	-0.52
	Internet Mana						184	0.51	+0.37
	Legalise Cannabis						120	0.33	+0.00
	United Future						87	0.24	-0.45
	Ban 1080						78	0.22	+0.22
	Civilian						16	0.04	+0.04
	Democrats						10	0.03	-0.01
	Focus						5	0.01	+0.01
	Independent Coalition						5	0.01	+0.01
Informal votes				182			65
Total Valid votes				35,196			35,875
	National hold		Majority	20,561	58.42	+4.54

2011 election

General election 2011: Selwyn[13]
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	Amy Adams		24,963	69.14	+8.65	23,086	62.65	+7.74
	Labour	Jo McLean		5,512	15.27	-14.54	5,942	16.12	-9.49
	Green	Eugenie Sage		3,674	10.18	+10.18	4,215	11.44	+3.91
	NZ First	Bill Woods		1,277	3.54	+3.54	1,750	4.75	+1.71
	Conservative	Wilton Gray		677	1.88	+1.88	906	2.46	+2.46
	ACT						336	0.91	-2.77
	United Future						256	0.69	-0.45
	Māori						137	0.37	-0.04
	Legalise Cannabis						123	0.33	+0.07
	Mana						52	0.14	+0.14
	Alliance						24	0.07	+0.02
	Democrats						13	0.04	+0.02
	Libertarianz						11	0.03	+0.01
Informal votes				526			192
Total Valid votes				36,103			36,851
	National hold		Majority	19,451	53.88	+23.20

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 46,937^[14]

2008 election

General election 2008: Selwyn[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 or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party Votes	%	±%
	National	Amy Adams		21,836	60.49		20,141	54.91
	Labour	David Coates		10,761	29.81		9,395	25.61
	Progressive	Philippa Main		1,316	3.65		672	1.83
	Independent	Bill Woods		603	1.67
	ACT	Ivor Watson		539	1.49		1,350	3.68
	Family Party	Samuel Dennis		493	1.37		141	0.38
	Kiwi	Eleanor Williamson		296	0.82		191	0.52
	United Future	Victoria Norman		253	0.70		421	1.15
	Green						2,761	7.53
	NZ First						1,115	3.04
	Bill and Ben						201	0.55
	Māori						151	0.41
	Legalise Cannabis						97	0.26
	Alliance						17	0.05
	Libertarianz						8	0.02
	Democrats						7	0.02
	Workers Party						5	0.01
	RAM						3	0.01
	Pacific						2	0.01
	RONZ						1	0.00
Informal votes				409			155
Total Valid votes				36,097			36,679
	National win new seat		Majority	11,075	30.68

1994 by-election

A by-election was held following the resignation of Ruth Richardson.^[16]

Selwyn by-election, 1994

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	David Carter	8,916	42.32
	Alliance	John Wright	8,488	40.34
	Labour	Marian Hobbs	2,173	10.33
	NZ First	Tim Shadbolt	1,165	5.54
	Christian Heritage	Rosemary Francis	182	0.86
	NORML	Warren Bryson	39	0.19
	Kiwis Against Further Immigration	Bruce Annan	29	0.14
	McGillicuddy Serious	Tim Owens	26	0.12
	Natural Law	Warwick Jones	22	0.10
	NZ Coalition	Kieron Daok	10	0.05
	Christ's Ambassadors Union	Victor Bryer	2	0.01
Majority			428	2.03
Turnout			21,052

1899 election

General election, 1899: Selwyn^[17][18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Charles Hardy	1,308	38.96
	Liberal	John Rennie	1,168	34.79
	Liberal	John Barrett	454	13.52
	Liberal	Kenneth Wilson	427	12.72
Majority			140	4.17	-1.57
Turnout			3,357	74.93	-10.05
Registered electors			4,480

1896 election

General election, 1896: Selwyn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Cathcart Wason	1,676	52.87
	Independent	Alfred Saunders	1,494	47.13
Majority			182	5.74
Turnout			3,170	84.99
Registered electors			3,730

1890 election

General election, 1890: Selwyn^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Independent	Alfred Saunders	536	42.61
	Conservative	Thomas Hamilton Anson	485	38.55
	Liberal	William Jerrington Popple	237	18.84
Majority			51	4.05
Turnout			1,258	62.49
Registered electors			2,013

1884 by-election

Selwyn by-election, 1884^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Independent	Edward Wakefield	479	60.25
	Independent	John McLachlan	316	39.75
Majority			163	20.50
Turnout			795		+177

1875 election

General election, 1875: Selwyn^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Independent	Cecil Fitzroy	244	51.48
	Independent	William Reeves	230	48.52
Majority			14	2.95
Turnout			474	68.30
Registered electors			694

Notes

1. McRobie 1989, pp. 91–96.
2. Report of the Representation Commission 2014 (PDF). Representation Commission. 4 April 2014. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-477-10414-2. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
3. "Mr. C. A. Fitzroy at Doyleston". The Press. XXIV (3218). 23 December 1875. p. 2. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
4. "Selwyn Poll". The Press. XXIV (3224). 31 December 1875. p. 2. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
5. "Election Notices". The Press. XXIV (3212). 16 December 1875. p. 4. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
6. "Selwyn nomination". Star (3553). 30 August 1879. p. 3. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
7. "The General Election". Otago Daily Times (6190). 10 December 1881. p. 2. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
8. "The General Elections". The Star (4249). 3 December 1881. p. 3. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
9. "Election Notices". The Press. XLVII (7731). 10 December 1890. p. 1. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
10. "Election Results -- Selwyn". Electoral Commission. 21 September 2014. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
11. Mathewson, Nicole; Stylianou, Georgina; Fulton, Tim (21 September 2014). "Election 2014: Canterbury decides". The Press. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
12. 2014 election results
13. 2011 election results
14. "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
15. 2008 election results
16. "Part XIV - Selwyn By-election" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
17. "The General Election, 1899". Wellington: Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives. 19 June 1900. p. 2. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
18. "Untitled". The Press. LVI (10516). 30 November 1899. p. 8. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
19. "The General Election, 1890". National Library. 1891. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
20. "Selwyn Election". The Press. XL (5755). 28 February 1884. p. 3. Retrieved 5 May 2012.

References

• McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8.
• 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 from Elections NZ