Wigram_(New_Zealand_electorate)

Wigram (New Zealand electorate)

Wigram (New Zealand electorate)

Electoral district in Canterbury, New Zealand


Wigram is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The current MP for Wigram is Megan Woods of the Labour Party. She took over this position from Jim Anderton, who had held this position from 1996 until 2011.

Quick Facts Region, Area ...

Population centres

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 (including Wigram) and one electorate was reconstituted while three electorates were abolished.[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]

Wigram is based around south-western Christchurch. The main suburbs in the seat are Spreydon, Addington, Hillmorton, Riccarton, Hornby and Sockburn. Following the 2013/2014 boundary review, it lost the suburb of Somerfield and parts of Hoon Hay to Port Hills.[6] The electorate's name comes from the suburb of Wigram, and by extension the former Wigram Aerodrome, itself named after colonial businessman Sir Henry Wigram. The electorate shifted southwards at the 2020 redistribution, gaining Aidanfield and parts of Hornby South from Port Hills and Selwyn, but losing Avonhead to Ilam.[7]

History

The electorate had previously existed from 1969 to 1978, when it was held by Mick Connelly for Labour.

Wigram was one of the original sixty-five Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electorates created ahead of the 1996 election, when the number of South Island seats was reduced to sixteen. The formerly safe Labour seat of Sydenham lies at Wigram's core, and Labour's strong showing in the party vote in both 2002 and 2005, where the party won nearly half of all party votes cast, indicates that Wigram's political inclinations are left-leaning in nature. Its most well-known MP Jim Anderton was himself the Labour MP for Sydenham between 1984 and 1989, before he split from the party over its political directions and formed the NewLabour Party, which later merged into the Alliance; the Alliance disintegrated in 2002, but Anderton, by then the leader of the Progressive Party held off all challengers to easily hold the seat. In the 2011 election, the seat reverted to Labour candidate Megan Woods after his retirement, but the National Party comfortably won the party vote.[8] The chairman of the Canterbury-Westland branch of the National Party, Roger Bridge, stated in April 2014 that Woods had a low profile and the Wigram electorate was now "winnable".[9] Woods won re-election in the 2014 election with a more than a doubled majority.[10]

Members of Parliament

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

Key   Labour   Alliance   Progressive

Election results

2020 election

More information 2020 general election, Notes: ...

2017 election

More information 2017 general election, Notes: ...

2014 election

More information 2014 general election, Notes: ...

2011 election

More information 2011 general election, Notes: ...

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 45,427[13]

2008 election

More information 2008 general election, Notes: ...

2005 election

More information 2005 general election, Notes: ...

1999 election

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

1996 election

More information 1996 general election, Notes: ...

1975 election

More information Party, Candidate ...

1972 election

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1969 election

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Table footnotes

  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

Notes

  1. McRobie 1989, pp. 108, 111, 112.
  2. McRobie 1989, p. 111.
  3. McRobie 1989, pp. 107, 111.
  4. McRobie 1989, pp. 108, 112.
  5. McRobie 1989, pp. 111f.
  6. Report of the Representation Commission 2014 (PDF). Representation Commission. 4 April 2014. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-477-10414-2. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
  7. "Official Count Results – Wigram (2011)". Electoral Commission. 10 December 2011. Retrieved 11 September 2014.
  8. Conway, Glenn (26 April 2014). "National sets sights on Wigram". The Press. p. A16. Retrieved 18 October 2014.
  9. "Official Count Results – Wigram (2014)". Electoral Commission. 4 October 2014. Retrieved 4 October 2014.
  10. "Wigram - Official Results". Electoral Commission. n.d. Retrieved 16 January 2021.
  11. "Official Count Results – Wigram (2017)". Electoral Commission. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  12. "Enrolment statistics". Electoral Commission. 26 November 2011. Retrieved 18 December 2011.
  13. "Official Count Results – Wigram (2008)". Electoral Commission. 22 November 2008. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  14. "Official Count Results – Wigram (2005)". Electoral Commission. 1 October 2005. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  15. Norton 1988, pp. 393.

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.
  • Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.

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