Waitaki is an electorate for the New Zealand House of Representatives that crosses the boundary of North Otago and South Canterbury towns on the East Coast of the South Island. The electorate was first established for the 1871 election that determined the 5th New Zealand Parliament. It has been abolished and re-established several times and in its early years was a two-member electorate for two parliamentary terms. The current electorate has existed since the 2008 election and is held by Miles Anderson of the National Party.

Through an amendment in the Electoral Act in 1965, the number of electorates in the South Island was fixed at 25, an increase of one since the 1962 electoral redistribution.^[1] It was accepted that through the more rapid population growth in the North Island, the number of its electorates would continue to increase, and to keep proportionality, three new electorates were allowed for in the 1967 electoral redistribution for the next election.^[2] In the North Island, five electorates were newly created and one electorate was reconstituted while three electorates were abolished.^[3] In the South Island, three electorates were newly created and one electorate was reconstituted while three electorates were abolished (including Waitaki).^[4] The overall effect of the required changes was highly disruptive to existing electorates, with all but three electorates having their boundaries altered.^[5] These changes came into effect with the 1969 election.^[2]

This current Waitaki electorate is the successor to parts of the old Otago electorate, with parts of central Otago moving into Clutha-Southland, and the boundary extended far up the South Canterbury coast, to just outside Timaru. The electorate was last re-established for the 2008 election. The 2006 census showed that there has been a general northwards population movement. 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 northwards. However, Waitaki ended up over quota in the 2013 census and redistribution resulted in all communities south of and including Herbert being ceded to Dunedin North.^[6] Waitaki contracted again in the 2020 redistribution, gaining the Waitati area from Dunedin North, but losing a large section of land around Alexandra to Southland.^[7]

The largest town in the electorate is Oamaru (pop. 14,000). Other towns include Geraldine (2,970), Twizel (1,850), Wānaka (12,400), Waimate (3,590) and Cromwell (7,160)

The Waitaki electorate has existed four times: in 1871 to 1946;^[8] in 1957 to 1969; in 1978 to 1996 and lastly since 2008.

The first election in the electorate was contested by William Steward and Macassey in 1871, with Steward being successful.^[9]

The next election was held in early January 1876. Waitaki had become a two-member electorate, and four candidates put their names forward. Steward and Joseph O'Meagher contested the election as abolitionists (i.e. they were in favour of abolishing the provincial government), while Thomas William Hislop and Samuel Shrimski were provincialists (i.e. they favoured the retention of provincial government).^[10] The provincialists won the election by quite some margin.^[11]

Hislop and Shrimski were both confirmed in the 1879 election,^[12] but Hislop resigned on 28 April 1880 "for private reasons".^[13][14] The resulting 1880 by-election was won by George Jones.^[15]

From 1881 onwards, the electorate became a single-member constituency again.^[8] Thomas Young Duncan won the 1881 election and the two subsequent elections.^[16] In the 1887 election, Duncan was opposed by John Reid,^[17] but defeated him by 705 to 676 votes.^[18] In the 1890 election, Duncan successfully contested the Oamaru electorate instead,^[19] with John McKenzie taking Waitaki. McKenzie had previously held Waihemo and went back to that electorate again for the 1893 election.^[20]

William Steward, who was the first representative of the electorate, had since 1881 represented Waimate. He returned to Waitaki for the 1893 election, was successful and also won the five subsequent elections. He held the electorate until 1911. He was appointed to the Legislative Council in the following year, but died within months of the appointment.^[21]

Francis Henry Smith succeeded Steward in the 1911 election. At the next election in 1914, Smith stood unsuccessfully in the Timaru electorate. The Waitaki electorate was won by John Anstey that year. At the 1919 election, Anstey was defeated by John Bitchener, who held Waitaki until he was defeated in the 1935 election by David Barnes. Barnes, in turn, held the electorate for one parliamentary term and was defeated in the 1938 election by David Campbell Kidd. At the final count, Kidd had a majority of 10 votes, and Barnes applied for a magisterial recount; this increased the 1938 result to a majority of 14 votes.^[22] Kidd represented Waitaki until 1946, when the electorate was abolished and he successfully stood in Waimate instead.

Waitaki was re-established for the 1957 election and was won by Thomas Hayman, who had previously represented Oamaru. Hayman died in office on 2 January 1962 and was succeeded by Allan Dick, who won the 1962 by-election. Dick held the electorate until 1969, when it was abolished again.

The electorate was re-established for the 1978 general election. Jonathan Elworthy of the National Party was the successful candidate. Elworthy was re-elected in the 1981 general election, but defeated in the 1984 general election by Labour's Jim Sutton. Sutton was re-elected in the 1987 general election, but lost to National's Alec Neill in the 1990 general election. Neill was re-elected in the 1993 general election. At the end of the next term, in 1996, the electorate was abolished again. Neill failed to be selected by the National Party as a candidate for any of the electorates for the 1996 general election.

With the advent of Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) voting system in 1996 and the resulting reduction in the number of constituencies, the electorate was split in half; the town of Oamaru was pulled into the resized Otago electorate and the balance was transferred into the new Aoraki electorate.

The Waitaki electorate was re-established for the 2008 election, and Jacqui Dean, incumbent since the 2005 election in the Otago electorate won the election with a large majority against Labour's David Parker.^[23] Dean increased her majority in the 2011 election against Labour's Barry Monks.^[24] Dean was confirmed as the electorate's representative in the 2014 election.^[25]

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