Ōtaki (New Zealand electorate)

Ōtaki (previously Otaki) is a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate, spanning part of the west coast of the lower North Island. The bulk of its population comes from the Horowhenua District, but it also takes in part of the northern Kapiti Coast, including the towns of Otaki and Waikanae, and part of Paraparaumu. The current MP for Ōtaki is Nathan Guy of the National Party. He has held this position since 2008 election.

Ōtaki electorate boundaries used since the 2014 election

History

In the 1892 electoral redistribution, population shift to the North Island required the transfer of one seat from the South Island to the north. The resulting ripple effect saw every electorate established in 1890 have its boundaries altered, and eight electorates were established for the first time, including Otaki.[1] Otaki was first contested in the 1893 election, and the first member for Otaki was James Wilson, who held the seat for one term until 1896. It was then won by Henry Augustus Field and then, after Henry's death, by his brother William Hughes Field. William Field, a Liberal-turn-independent-turn-Reform, held it for a total of 32 years, from 1900 to 1935. Field lost the electorate in 1911 to John Robertson of the Social Democratic Party (who had been nominated by the flax-workers union), but won it back in 1914.

The seat was abolished in 1972, and Allan McCready, who was the incumbent, instead stood for and won the Manawatu electorate.

Otaki was recreated ahead of the change to mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting in 1996, by combining two bellwether seats: the northern half of Kapiti with the entire Horowhenua seat. Since its recreation the boundaries have been left largely unaltered, though after the 2007 boundary review a macron was added to the name and it is now spelled Ōtaki. The first MP for Otaki since its recreation was Judy Keall, who won by less than a thousand votes in 1996 before a more decisive victory in 1999.[2] In 2002, her former electorate assistant Darren Hughes won the seat, becoming the youngest member of the House of Representatives. His 2002 majority was slashed to just 382 at the 2005 election by former Horowhenua District councillor Nathan Guy. In a 2008 rematch, Guy tipped out Hughes by 1,354 votes; Hughes returned to Parliament off the Labour Party list.

While multiple parties have held Ōtaki in the past, it is currently considered a safe seat for National.[3] Nathan Guy has won Ōtaki for National at every election since 2008; at the most recent election in 2017 Guy won 50.3% of the vote compared with the second-place Rob McCann getting 35.4%. Guy announced he would be resigning at the 2020 election,[4] and National have selected Tim Costley as its replacement candidate.[3]

Members of Parliament

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

Key

  Independent     Liberal     Reform     Labour     Labour     National  

Election	Winner
1893 election		James Wilson
1896 election 1899 election		Henry Augustus Field
1900 by-election 1902 election 1905 election		William Field
1908 election
1911 election		John Robertson
1914 election 1919 election 1922 election 1925 election 1928 election 1931 election		William Field
1935 election 1938 election 1943 election		Leonard Lowry
1946 election 1949 election 1951 election 1954 election 1957 election		Jimmy Maher
1960 election 1963 election 1966 election 1969 election		Allan McCready
(electorate abolished 1972–1996, see Kapiti and Manawatu)
1996 election 1999 election		Judy Keall
2002 election 2005 election		Darren Hughes
2008 election 2011 election 2014 election 2017 election		Nathan Guy

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
1996 election		Roger Sowry
1999 election
2002 election
2005 election		Nathan Guy
2008 election		Darren Hughes

Election results

2017 election

2017 general election: Otaki[5]
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 Nathan Guy		20,725	50.31	−4.49	19,187	46.02	−2.69
	Labour	Rob McCann		14,569	35.37	+0.90	15,014	34.94	+10.29
	Green	Sam Ferguson		2,167	5.26	−1.17	2,358	5.65	−3.74
	NZ First	Romuald Edward Rudzki		1,680	4.07	—	3,421	8.20	−1.69
	Opportunities	Piri-Hira Tukapua		1,051	2.55	—	910	2.18	—
	Independent	Sam Jennings		504	1.22	—
	ACT	Wayne Desmond Grattan		105	0.25	—	163	0.39	+0.10
	Māori						156	0.37	−0.07
	Legalise Cannabis						79	0.18	−0.18
	New Conservative						69	0.16	−4.22
	Ban 1080						44	0.10	−0.06
	United Future						25	0.05	—
	People's Party						24	0.05	—
	Outdoors						19	0.04	—
	Mana						9	0.02	−0.62[lower-alpha 1]
	Democrats						7	0.01	−0.04
	Internet						3	0.007	−0.633[lower-alpha 2]
Informal votes				386			198
Total Valid votes				41,187			41,686
	National hold		Majority	6,156	14.95	-5.38

2014 election

2014 general election: Ōtaki[6]
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 Nathan Guy		20,980	54.80	+3.23	18,854	48.71	+1.92
	Labour	Rob McCann		13,198	34.47	−3.01	9,543	24.65	−4.94
	Green	Maddy Drew		2,462	6.43	+1.72	3,635	9.39	+0.21
	New Conservative	Anne Lovelock		913	2.38	+0.65	1,695	4.38	+1.19
	Independent	Amanda Vickers		203	0.53	+0.53
	Independent	Frederick Macdonald		118	0.31	+0.31
	NZ First						3,827	9.89	+1.77
	Internet Mana						249	0.64	+0.43[lower-alpha 3]
	Māori						169	0.44	−0.12
	Legalise Cannabis						138	0.36	−0.07
	ACT						111	0.29	−0.38
	United Future						74	0.19	−0.52
	Ban 1080						61	0.16	+0.16
	Democrats						19	0.05	+0.01
	Independent Coalition						19	0.05	+0.05
	Civilian						12	0.03	+0.03
	Focus						6	0.02	+0.02
Informal votes				412			298
Total Valid votes				38,286			38,710
Turnout				38,710	82.49	+3.23
	National hold		Majority	7,782	20.33	+6.24

2011 election

2011 general election: Ōtaki[7]
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 Nathan Guy		19,151	51.57	+2.90	17,609	46.79	+2.02
	Labour	Peter Foster		13,920	37.48	-7.70	11,137	29.59	-7.36
	Green	Michael Gilchrist		1,750	4.71	+2.06	3,612	9.60	+3.96
	NZ First	David Scott		1,122	3.02	+1.02	3,057	8.12	+2.63
	New Conservative	John Stephen Ryersson		644	1.73	+1.73	1,202	3.19	+3.19
	Legalise Cannabis	Fred MacDonald		253	0.68	+0.68	162	0.43	+0.14
	ACT	Peter McCaffrey		115	0.31	-0.23	253	0.67	-1.92
	United Future	Diane Brown		110	0.30	-0.09	266	0.71	-0.31
	Independent	Philip Dean Taueki		73	0.20	+0.20
	Māori						210	0.56	-0.26
	Mana						80	0.21	+0.21
	Libertarianz						19	0.05	+0.02
	Democrats						15	0.04	+0.01
	Alliance						11	0.03	-0.04
Informal votes				573			292
Total Valid votes				37,138			37,633
	National hold		Majority	5,231	14.09	+10.60

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 47,483[8]

2008 election

2008 general election: Ōtaki[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 Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Nathan Guy		18,885	48.67	+3.91	17,534	44.77	+3.10
	Labour	N Darren Hughes		17,531	45.18	-0.58	14,472	36.95	+4.72
	Green	Jim Kebbell		1,029	2.65		2,207	5.64	1.09
	NZ First	David John Scott		778	2.01		2,153	5.50	-1.29
	Progressive	Josie Pagani		221	0.57		453	1.16	-0.43
	ACT	Peter McCaffrey		210	0.54		1,014	2.59	+1.60
	United Future	Diane Brown		148	0.38	-1.25	397	1.01	-2.34
	Māori						321	0.82	+0.08
	Bill and Ben						177	0.45
	Kiwi						165	0.42
	Legalise Cannabis						115	0.29	+0.06
	Family Party						84	0.21
	Alliance						28	0.07	-0.13
	Libertarianz						12	0.03	+0.01
	Democrats						10	0.03	-0.02
	Pacific						9	0.02
	Workers Party						6	0.02
	RONZ						5	0.01	±0.00
	RAM						0	0.00
Informal votes				186			111
Total Valid votes				38,802			39,162
	National gain from Labour		Majority	1,354	3.49

2005 election

2005 general election: Otaki[10]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Darren Hughes		17,556	45.76	-7.27	16,131	41.67
	National	Nathan Guy		17,174	44.76	+13.79	15,174	39.20
	NZ First	Chris Perry		1,043	2.72		2,630	6.79
	Green	Nick Fisher		1,022	2.66		1,761	4.55
	United Future	Diane Brown		611	1.59		1,297	3.35
	Māori	Richard Orzecki		353	0.92		286	0.74
	Progressive	Russell Franklin		303	0.79		614	1.59
	ACT	Simon Ewing-Jarvie		163	0.42		383	0.99
	Alliance	Margaret Jeune		97	0.25		78	0.20
	Direct Democracy	Robert Atack		47	0.12		7	0.02
	Destiny						154	0.40
	Legalise Cannabis						88	0.23
	Family Rights						54	0.14
	Christian Heritage						37	0.10
	Democrats						21	0.05
	99 MP						14	0.04
	One NZ						14	0.04
	Libertarianz						9	0.02
	RONZ						5	0.01
Informal votes				242			134
Total Valid votes				38,369			38,707
	Labour hold		Majority	382	1.00	-21.07

1999 election

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

1943 election

1943 general election: Otaki[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Leonard Lowry	5,151	46.56	-9.76
	National	Bert Cooksley	4,960	44.83
	Democratic Labour	Robert James Barnett	454	4.10
	People's Movement	William Jonathan Crawford	413	3.73
Informal votes			84	0.75	+0.41
Majority			191	1.72	-11.27
Turnout			11,062	92.16	-1.97
Registered electors			12,003

1938 election

1938 general election: Otaki[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Leonard Lowry	5,926	56.32	+6.35
	National	George Alexander Monk	4,559	43.33	+12.41
Informal votes			36	0.34
Majority			1,367	12.99	-6.06
Turnout			10,521	94.13	+10.87
Registered electors			11,177

1935 election

1935 general election: Otaki[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Leonard Lowry	4,511	49.97
	United/Reform	George Alexander Monk[14]	2,791	30.92
	Independent	Will Appleton[15]	975	10.80
	Democrat	Robert Westley Bothamley[16]	750	8.31
Majority			1,720	19.05	+3.28
Turnout			9,027	83.26	-0.73
Registered electors			10,842

1931 election

1931 general election: Otaki[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Reform	William Hughes Field	4,848	57.89
	Labour	Jim Thorn	3,527	42.11
Majority			1,321	15.77
Informal votes			92	1.09
Turnout			8,467	83.99
Registered electors			10,081

1928 election

1928 general election: Otaki[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Reform	William Hughes Field	3,407	44.54
	United	Archibald Burnett Sievwright	2,594	33.91
	Labour	Harold Dyson	1,400	18.30
	Independent	James Purchase	249	3.25
Majority			813	10.63
Informal votes			106	1.37
Turnout			7,756	88.29
Registered electors			8,785

1900 by-election

1900 Otaki by-election[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	William Hughes Field	1,755	52.44
	Conservative	Charles Morison	1,592	47.56	+2.09
Majority			163	4.87	-4.18
Turnout			3,347	62.35	-0.45
Registered electors			5,368

Table footnotes

1. 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
2. 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
3. 2014 Internet Mana swing is relative to the votes for Mana in 2011; it shared a party list with Internet in the 2014 election.

Notes

1. McRobie 1989, pp. 59f.
2. Counsell, Gerard (31 October 2008). "Swing seats: All eyes on Otaki". One News. Retrieved 8 October 2014.
3. Walls, Jason (17 November 2019). "Former Air Force pilot Tim Costley has been selected to run in the National safe seat of Ōtaki". New Zealand Herald. ISSN 1170-0777. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
4. "National party reshuffle after Nathan Guy announces retirement from politics". Newshub. Retrieved 25 November 2019.
5. "Official Count Results -- Otaki". Wellington: New Zealand Electoral Commission. Retrieved 21 December 2017.
6. "Official Count Results -- Ōtaki (2014)". Electoral Commission. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
7. 2011 election results
8. "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2011.
9. 2008 Official Count Results – Ōtaki
10. 2005 Official Count Results – Otaki
11. "The General Election, 1943". National Library. 1944. p. 11. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
12. "The General Election, 1938". National Library. 1939. pp. 1–6. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
13. "How the votes were cast". The Evening Post. CXX (130). 28 November 1935. p. 8. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
14. "Otaki Seat". The Evening Post. CXX (55). 2 September 1935. p. 10. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
15. "Mr. Appleton's Candidature". The Evening Post. CXX (97). 21 October 1935. p. 11. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
16. "Election Notices". The Evening Post. CXIX (99). 29 April 1935. p. 2. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
17. The General Election, 1931. Government Printer. 1932. p. 4. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
18. Skinner, W. A. G. (1929). The General Election, 1928. Government Printer. p. 4. Retrieved 19 February 2020.
19. "The Otaki Seat". The New Zealand Herald. XXXVII (11265). 8 January 1900. p. 5. Retrieved 5 February 2015.

References

• 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 Parliamentary Library