New Zealand electorates

An electorate or electoral district (Māori: rohe pōti^[1]) is a geographic constituency used for electing a member (MP) to the New Zealand Parliament.^[2] The size of electorates is determined such that all electorates have approximately the same population.

Before 1996, all MPs were directly chosen for office by the voters of an electorate. In New Zealand's electoral system, 72 of the usually 120 seats in Parliament are filled by electorate members, with the remainder being filled from party lists in order to achieve proportional representation among parties. The 72 electorates are made up from 65 general and seven Māori electorates. The number of electorates increases periodically in line with national population growth; the number was increased from 71 to 72 starting at the 2020 general election.

Terminology[edit]

The Electoral Act 1993 refers to electorates as "electoral districts".^[2] Electorates are informally referred to as "seats" (Māori: tūru), but technically the term seat refers to an elected member's place in Parliament.^[3]^{[n 1]}

Four government officials—the Government Statistician, the Surveyor-General, the Chief Electoral Officer, and the Chairperson of the Local Government Commission.

A representative of the governing party or coalition, and a representative of the opposition bloc.

A chairperson (often a judge) nominated by the other members (with the exception of Chairperson of the Local Government Commission).

[4]

Naming conventions[edit]

The Representation Commission determines the names of each electorate following the most recent census.^[4] An electorate may be named after a geographic region, landmark (e.g. a mountain) or main population area. The Commission adopts compass point names when there is not a more suitable name. The compass point reference usually follows the name of the main population centre, e.g. Hamilton East.

(1862–1870)

Goldfields

(1865–1870)

Gold Field Towns

(1866–1870)

Westland Boroughs

produced by the Parliamentary Library, New Zealand Parliament.

Electoral profiles

produced by the Parliamentary Library, run by the Electoral Commission, the Electoral Enrolment Centre, the Representation Commission, and the Justice Sector.