Otago (New Zealand electorate)

Otago was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate first created for the 1978 election, which was replaced by the Waitaki electorate and Clutha-Southland electorates for the 2008 election. Its last representative was Jacqui Dean of the National Party.

Population centres

The 1977 electoral redistribution was the most overtly political since the Representation Commission had been established through an amendment to the Representation Act in 1886, initiated by Muldoon's National Government.[1] As part of the 1976 census, a large number of people failed to fill out an electoral re-registration card, and census staff had not been given the authority to insist on the card being completed. This had little practical effect for people on the general roll, but it transferred Māori to the general roll if the card was not handed in. Together with a northward shift of New Zealand's population, this resulted in five new electorates having to be created in the upper part of the North Island.[2] The electoral redistribution was very disruptive, and 22 electorates were abolished, while 27 electorates were newly created (including Otago) or re-established. These changes came into effect for the 1978 election.[3]

When the electorate was first formed, it mostly replaced the Otago Central electorate, but also gained areas from the Clutha electorate (including Tapanui and Lawrence) and the coastal strip north of Dunedin from the Oamaru electorate (including Waikouaiti, Palmerston, and Hampden). The main towns that came from the Otago Central electorate were Queenstown, Alexandra, Cromwell, and Wanaka.[4] In the 1983 electoral redistribution, the southern boundary moved north and some towns transferred to the Clutha electorate, including Tapanui, Lawrence, and Roxburgh. To compensate, some outer suburbs of Dunedin on the northern part of Otago Peninsula were gained from the Dunedin North electorate, including St Leonards and Ravensbourne.[5]

The electoral redistribution carried out for the 1996 election saw the electorate move further north to now include Twizel. The electoral redistribution carried out after the 2006 census saw Otago abolished, with its area split between the Waitaki and Clutha-Southland electorates.

History

The Otago electorate was first won by Warren Cooper of the National Party in 1978, who had been the representative for the Otago Central electorate since the 1975 election.[6] When Cooper retired at the 1996 election, he was succeeded by Gavan Herlihy.[7] Although Otago was a reasonably safe seat for the National Party, that party's poor showing at the 2002 election saw the Otago constituents elect a Labour MP, David Parker.[7][8] Three years later in 2005, a swing to National in provincial New Zealand unseated Parker in favour of National's Jacqui Dean.[9] When the Otago electorate was abolished in 2008, Dean transferred to the Waitaki electorate.[10]

Members of Parliament

Key

  National     Labour     ACT  

Election	Winner
1978 election		Warren Cooper
1981 election
1984 election
1987 election
1990 election
1993 election
1996 election		Gavan Herlihy
1999 election
2002 election		David Parker
2005 election		Jacqui Dean
(Electorate abolished in 2008; see Waitaki)

List MPs

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

Election	Winner
1999 election		Gerry Eckhoff
2002 election
2005 election		David Parker

Election results

2005 election

2005 general election: Otago[9]
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 or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Jacqui Dean		17,364			16,333
	Labour	N David Parker		15,369			14,573
	Green	Jane Pearce		1,596			2,251
	ACT	Gerry Eckhoff		848			585
	United Future	Gerald Telford		620			783
	Progressive	Barry Silcock		270			389
	Democrats	Richard Prosser		133			53
	Direct Democracy	Simon Guy		88			36
	NZ First						1,407
	Destiny						132
	Legalise Cannabis						106
	Māori						63
	Christian Heritage						38
	Alliance						26
	99 MP						11
	Libertarianz						10
	Family Rights						7
	RONZ						6
	One NZ						4
Informal votes				331			104
Total Valid votes				36,288			36,813
	National gain from Labour		Majority	1,995

2002 election

2002 general election: Otago[8]
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 or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Parker		14,113			12,943
	National	N Gavan Herlihy		13,429			8,472
	ACT	Gerry Eckhoff		1,294			1,919
	United Future	Allan Smellie		1,115			1,779
	Christian Heritage	Mike Ferguson		544			431
	Progressive	Hessel van Wieren		438			528
	Alliance	Sam Huggard		441			260
	Green						2,598
	NZ First						2,127
	ORNZ						635
	Legalise Cannabis						232
	One NZ						19
	NMP						7
	Mana Māori						4
Informal votes				489			92
Total Valid votes				31,374			31,954
	Labour gain from National		Majority	684

1999 election

Refer to Candidates in the New Zealand general election 1999 by electorate#Otago for a list of candidates.

1987 election

1987 general election: Otago

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Warren Cooper	9,234	51.4	+9.1
	Labour	Calvin Fisher	7,232	40.5	+4.8
	Democrats	W J Thompson	1,279	7.1	-7.8
	Wizard Party	Ms P Johnstone	178	1.0	+1.0
Majority			1,961	10.9
Turnout				88.6
Registered electors			20,563

1984 election

1984 general election: Otago

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Warren Cooper	8,884	42.3	-7.5
	Labour	David Polson	7,509	35.7	+10.3
	Social Credit	W J Thompson	2,124	14.9	-9.9
	NZ Party	F H Chittock	1,501	7.1	+7.1
Majority			1,375	6.6
Turnout				95.2
Registered electors			22,500

1981 election

1981 general election: Otago

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Warren Cooper	9,970	49.8	-0.3
	Labour	Bryan Griffiths	5,077	25.4	-4.3
	Social Credit	M J Robertson	4,951	24.8	+7.0
Majority			4,893	24.4
Turnout				91.5
Registered electors			21,938

1978 election

1978 general election: Otago

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Warren Cooper	9,109	50.1	-2.2
	Labour	R J Rutherford	5,387	29.7	-10.7
	Social Credit	H Te H Ruru	3,326	17.8	+13.2
	Values	Mrs J Pitches	430	2.4	-0.3
Majority			3,722	20.4
Turnout				73.9
Registered electors			24,668

Notes

1. McRobie 1989, pp. 8–9, 51, 119.
2. McRobie 1989, p. 119.
3. McRobie 1989, pp. 115–120.
4. McRobie 1989, pp. 117, 121.
5. McRobie 1989, pp. 121–125.
6. Wilson 1985, p. 190.
7. Young, Audrey (31 July 2002). "Tears flow as 16 MPs say goodbye". The New Zealand Herald. New Zealand Press Association. Retrieved 12 July 2008.
8. "Official Count Results -- Otago". Chief Electoral Office. 10 August 2002. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
9. "Official Count Results -- Otago". Chief Electoral Office. 1 October 2005. Retrieved 30 May 2015.
10. "Jacqui Dean". New Zealand Parliament. 19 November 2014. Retrieved 30 May 2015.

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 Parliamentary Library