New Zealand electorates
[3][n 1] The electoral boundaries for the inaugural 1853 general election were drawn up by the governor, George Grey, with the authority for this coming from the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852.[4] After the initial election, there were eight redivisions carried out by members of the general assembly (as the lower house was known at the time).Up until 1981, the boundaries of the Māori electorates were determined by the governor or governor-general, when that responsibility was also transferred to the Representation Commission.[6] Since the introduction of MMP for the 1996 election, the number of South Island electorates is fixed at 16 as stipulated in the legislation.The total number of list seats has thus declined from 55 to 48 since the introduction of mixed-member proportional voting in the 1996 general election.[2] This has caused the number of list seats in Parliament to decline as the population is experiencing "northern drift" (i.e. the population of the North Island, especially around Auckland, is growing faster than that of the South Island) due both to internal migration and to immigration.[13] An electorate may be named after a geographic region, landmark (e.g. a mountain) or main population area.The compass point reference usually follows the name of the main population centre, e.g. Hamilton East.Only persons presumed to have equal Māori and European ancestry (so-called half-castes) had a choice of roll.
Politics of New ZealandConstitutionThe CrownMonarchCharles IIIGovernor-GeneralCindy KiroRealm of New ZealandExecutive GovernmentList of governmentscurrentCabinetMinistersPrime MinisterChristopher LuxonExecutive CouncilState services departmentsLegislature54th New Zealand ParliamentKing-in-ParliamentHouse of RepresentativesSpeakerGerry BrownleeOfficial OppositionElectionsPolitical partiesElectoral systemElectoral reformElectoral CommissionReferendumsPolitical funding and election expensesJudiciarySupreme CourtChief JusticeHelen WinkelmannCourt of AppealChristine FrenchHigh CourtDistrict CourtEmploymentEnvironmentMāori LandWaitangi TribunalLaw of New ZealandLocal governmentRegionsTerritorial authoritiesMayorsCommunity boardsForeign relationsMinistry of Foreign Affairs and TradeMinisterWinston PetersDiplomatic missions ofin New ZealandNationality lawPassportVisa requirementsVisa policyNew Zealand and the United NationsAnarchismChristianConservatismEnvironmentalismFascismFeminismLiberalismPopulismRepublicanismSocialismPolitical history of New ZealandHistory of voting in New ZealandMāori politicsNuclear-free zoneMāorigeographic constituencyNew Zealand ParliamentNew Zealand's electoral systemparty listsproportional representationMāori electorates2020 general electionElectoral Act 19931853 general electiongovernorGeorge GreyNew Zealand Constitution Act 1852British House of Commonssingle-membermulti-memberplurality voting systemcountry quota1905 electionStatistics New Zealand2008 general election2014 general electionNew Zealand census1996 general electionSouth IslandNorth IslandAucklandOverhang seatsmain population areacompass pointHamilton Eastgoldminers' electoratesOtago gold rushreserved positionsAuckland CentralChlöe SwarbrickBanks PeninsulaCanterburyVanessa WeeninkNationalBay of PlentyTom RutherfordBotanyBotany DownsChristchurch CentralChristchurchDuncan WebbLabourChristchurch EastReuben DavidsonCoromandelWaikato