Selwyn (New Zealand electorate)

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.

Selwyn electorate boundaries used since the 2014 election

Region and population centres

The electorate is mainly rural, stretching from the Southern Alps to the Banks Peninsula, its borders broadly defined by the Rakaia River in the south and the Waimakariri River in the north. Major towns include Rolleston, Lincoln, Prebbleton, and Darfield, with smaller towns such as Tai Tapu, Leeston and Dunsandel. The electorate also includes parts of Christchurch city's territorial authority.

History

Existence and changes to area

An electorate called Selwyn existed between 1866 and 1919. A Selwyn electorate also existed between 1946 and 1972 and again from 1978 until it was absorbed by Rakaia for the first MMP election in 1996.[1] The latest version of the Selwyn electorate was created for the 2008 election. This followed a review of electoral boundaries conducted after the 2006 Census, 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.

Due to the rapid growth of Selwyn relative to Christchurch (which lost population after the earthquakes), the 2013 redistribution had Selwyn losing Halswell and Westmorland to Port Hills and Harewood to Waimakariri while regaining the towns of Rakaia and Chertsey back from Rangitata.[2] Data from the 2018 census showed Selywn's population had continued to grow – it had the largest discrepancy of any electorate – and so the electorate would need to lose further area for the 2020 boundaries.[3] It shed an area around Hornby South to Wigram, the Banks Peninsula to the recreated Banks Peninsula, the area west of the Rakaia to Rangitata, and an area around Christchurch Airport to Ilam.[4]

Voting history

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, while his opponent, Cecil Fitzroy, was an abolitionist. Fitzroy, who was 31 years old and 20 years Reeves' junior, narrowly won the election.[5][6] Edward Lee acted as returning officer for the election.[7]

In the 1879 election, John Hall was returned unopposed.[8] In the 1881 election, Hall beat R. Lockhead by 467 to 169 votes.[9][10]

In the 1890 election, Alfred Saunders, Thomas Hamilton Anson, and William Jerrington Popple received 536, 485 and 237 votes, respectively.[11]

The electorate is one of the National Party's safest seats. National have held the seat, whenever it has existed since it was first recreated in 1946. The incumbent MP is Amy Adams, who has received between 60% and 70% of the electorate vote in the four elections since its latest recreation in 2008. In 2011, the candidate for the other major New Zealand party, Labour, received less than 11% of the electoral vote and came third, behind the Greens in the 2011 election. In that election, the only polling booths where Adams didn't receive the most votes were Arthur's Pass and Diamond Harbour.

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
2017 election

List MPs

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

Election	Winner
2011 election		Eugenie Sage

Election results

2017 election

2017 general election: Selwyn[12]
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 Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y Amy Adams		28,686	65.86	-4.11	26,003	59.00	-4.58
	Labour	Tony Condon		9,047	20.77	+9.22	11,508	26.11	+13.14
	Green	Chrys Horn		2,772	6.36	-5.19	2,339	5.30	-5.60
	NZ First	Lindy Michelle Palmer		1,345	3.08	-2.15	2,440	5.53	-1.42
	Opportunities	Nicky Snoyink		1,270	2.91	—	1,131	2.56	—
	ACT	Brian Davidson		198	0.45	+0.21	201	0.45	+0.06
	New Conservative						87	0.2	-3.29
	Legalise Cannabis						79	0.2	-0.13
	Māori						75	0.17	-0.14
	Ban 1080						41	0.09	-0.13
	Outdoors						36	0.08	—
	United Future						32	0.07	-0.17
	People's Party						11	0.02	—
	Internet						6	0.01	-0.5[lower-alpha 1]
	Democrats						3	0.01	-0.02
	Mana						2	0	-0.51[lower-alpha 2]
Informal votes				235			74
Total Valid votes				43,553			44,068
	National hold		Majority	19,639	45.09	-13.33

2014 election

2014 general election: Selwyn[13]
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 Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y 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
	New 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

2011 general election: Selwyn[14]
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 Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y 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
	New 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[15]

2008 election

2008 general election: Selwyn[16]
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 Y 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.[17]

1994 Selwyn by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	David Carter	8,906	42.32
	Alliance	John Wright	8,488	40.33
	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			418	1.99
Turnout			21,042

1987 election

1987 general election: Selwyn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	Ruth Richardson	10,720	54.9	+4.9
	Labour	Bill Woods	7,758	39.8	+8.8
	Democrats	J R E Palmer	640	3.3	-1.5
	Independent National	G P Dennis	194	1.0	+1.0
	Wizard Party	C I Walker	177	1.0	+1.0
Majority			2,962	16.1
Turnout				89.7
Registered electors			22,160

1984 election

1984 general election: Selwyn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	Ruth Richardson	10,076	50.0	+2.6
	Labour	C E Manning	6,247	31.0	-5.8
	NZ Party	M R MacDonald	2,859	14.2	+14.2
	Social Credit	J D Gribben	977	4.8	-11.0
Majority			3,829	19.0
Turnout				94.8
Registered electors			20,455

1981 election

1981 general election: Selwyn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	Ruth Richardson	9,496	47.4	+2.1
	Labour	Bill Woods	7,367	36.8	-1.8
	Social Credit	J D Gribben	3,157	15.8	+2.0
Majority			2,129	10.6
Turnout				90.2
Registered electors			22,293

1978 election

1978 general election: Selwyn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	Colin McLachlan	8,335	45.3
	Labour	Bill Woods	7,103	38.6
	Social Credit	J D Gribben	2,537	13.8
	Values	A G Fairweather	411	2.3
Majority			1,232	6.7
Turnout				66.3
Registered electors			27,882

1966 election

1966 general election: Selwyn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	Colin McLachlan	7,374	52.5	-3.9
	Labour	T K Campbell	4,777	34.0	+0.9
	Social Credit	M McConnell	1,903	13.5	+7.0
Majority			2,597	18.5
Turnout				85.3
Registered electors			16,542

1963 election

1963 general election: Selwyn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	John McAlpine	8,164	56.4	+0.1
	Labour	Francis Edward Smith	4,793	33.1	-3.4
	Social Credit	R H Morton	942	6.5	-0.7
	Liberal	E L May	572	4.0	+4.0
Majority			3,371	23.3
Turnout				88.1
Registered electors			16,534

1960 election

1960 general election: Selwyn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	John McAlpine	8,096	56.3	+3.1
	Labour	John Palmer	5,257	36.5	-3.5
	Social Credit	R H Morton	1,042	7.2	+1.4
Majority			2,839	19.8
Turnout				90.0
Registered electors			16,074

1957 election

1957 general election: Selwyn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	John McAlpine	7,564	53.2	+3.1
	Labour	S S M Cook	5,833	41.0	+10.4
	Social Credit	R H Morton	823	5.8	-13.5
Majority			1,731	12.2
Turnout				92.0
Registered electors			15,501

1954 election

1954 general election: Selwyn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	John McAlpine	6,473	50.1	-5.8
	Labour	D Clinton	3,852	30.6	-13.5
	Social Credit	T A Ward	2,387	19.3	+19.3
Majority			2,521	19.5
Turnout				89.3
Registered electors			14,612

1951 election

1951 general election: Selwyn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	John McAlpine	8,738	55.9	+1.5
	Labour	Jim Barclay	6,902	44.1	-1.5
Majority			1,836	11.8
Turnout				91.3
Registered electors			17,170

1949 election

1949 general election: Selwyn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	John McAlpine	8,205	54.4	+2.6
	Labour	Alan Sharp	6,878	45.6	-2.6
Majority			1,327	8.8
Turnout				94.7
Registered electors			16,035

1946 election

1949 general election: Selwyn

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	John McAlpine	6,970	51.8
	Labour	Alan Sharp	6,498	48.2
Majority			472	3.6
Turnout				93.2
Registered electors			14,463

1899 election

1899 general election: Selwyn[18][19]

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

1896 general election: 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

1890 general election: Selwyn[20]

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

1884 Selwyn by-election[21]

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

1883 by-election

1883 Selwyn by-election[22][23][24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Independent	Edward Lee	258	41.75
	Independent	Edward Richardson	220	35.60
	Independent	John McLachlan	140	22.65
Turnout			618
Majority			38	6.15

1875 election

1875 general election: Selwyn[6]

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. 2017 Internet Party swing is relative to the votes for Internet-Mana in 2014; it shared a party list with Mana Party in the 2014 election
2. 2017 Mana Party swing is relative to the votes for Internet-Mana in 2014; it shared a party list with the Internet Party in the 2014 election

References

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. Cooke, Henry (23 September 2019). "Census 2018: New Zealand to gain one new seat in 2020 election". Stuff. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
4. "Report of the Representation Commission 2020" (PDF). 17 April 2020.
5. "Mr. C. A. Fitzroy at Doyleston". The Press. XXIV (3218). 23 December 1875. p. 2. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
6. "Selwyn Poll". The Press. XXIV (3224). 31 December 1875. p. 2. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
7. "Election Notices". The Press. XXIV (3212). 16 December 1875. p. 4. Retrieved 11 July 2015.
8. "Selwyn nomination". Star (3553). 30 August 1879. p. 3. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
9. "The General Election". Otago Daily Times (6190). 10 December 1881. p. 2. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
10. "The General Elections". The Star (4249). 3 December 1881. p. 3. Retrieved 7 May 2012.
11. "Election Notices". The Press. XLVII (7731). 10 December 1890. p. 1. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
12. "Official Count Results – Selwyn". Wellington: New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 22 December 2017.
13. 2014 election results
14. 2011 election results
15. "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
16. 2008 election results
17. "Part XIV – Selwyn By-election" (PDF). Electoral Commission. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
18. "The General Election, 1899". Wellington: Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives. 19 June 1900. p. 2. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
19. "Untitled". The Press. LVI (10516). 30 November 1899. p. 8. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
20. "The General Election, 1890". National Library. 1891. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
21. "Selwyn Election". The Press. XL (5755). 28 February 1884. p. 3. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
22. "Selwyn Election". New Zealand Times. 20 April 1883.
23. "Selwyn Election". New Zealand Mail. 14 April 1883.
24. "The Result of the Selwyn Election". New Zealand Times. 20 April 1883.

• McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

External links

• Electorate Profile from Elections NZ