A by-election was held in the Mount Roskill electorate on 3 December 2016. The seat was vacated following the resignation of

Phil Goff Philip Bruce Goff (born 22 June 1953) is a New Zealand politician. He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament from 1981 to 1990 and again from 1993 to 2016. He served as leader of the Labour Party and leader of the Opposition between 11 No ...

after he was elected

Mayor of Auckland The Mayor of Auckland is the directly elected head of the Auckland Council, the local government authority for the Auckland Region in New Zealand, which it controls as a unitary authority. The position exists since October 2010 after the amalga ...

Background

At just under Mount Roskill has the third-smallest land area among New Zealand's electorates. Following the 2014 boundary changes, it lost New Windsor to the electorate, but gained areas around

Three Kings The biblical Magi from Middle Persian ''moɣ''(''mard'') from Old Persian ''magu-'' 'Zoroastrian clergyman' ( or ; singular: ), also referred to as the (Three) Wise Men or (Three) Kings, also the Three Magi were distinguished foreigners in the G ...

and

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places * Sandringham, New South Wales, Australia * Sandringham, Queensland, Australia * Sandringham, Victoria, Australia **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station **Electoral district of Sandringham * Sand ...

and retained the communities of

Mount Roskill Mount Roskill is a suburban area in the city of Auckland, New Zealand. It is named for the volcanic peak Puketāpapa (commonly called "Mount Roskill" in English). Description The suburb, named after the Mount, is located seven kilometres to ...

, Lynfield, Wesley, and Hillsborough. About 39% of the usually resident population of Mount Roskill are from the Asian ethnic group – the second-highest percentage of any general electorate in 2013, and over three times the national average (11.8%). Just less than half of the people in the electorate in 2013 were born in New Zealand (49.1%) – the fifth-lowest share in New Zealand. The proportions of those affiliated with

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

(5.9%), and those affiliated with

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

(10.5%), are the highest and third-highest in the country respectively. Over two-thirds (67.9%) of people in Mount Roskill stated they had never smoked, the third-highest share among general electorates. At the 2014 election, Phil Goff (

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

) captured a majority (56.5%) of the 32,976 valid electorate votes cast for candidates in the Mount Roskill electorate. The National Party captured a plurality (42.1%, cf. 47.1% nationally) of the party votes in Mount Roskill, up 2.6 percentage points on its party vote share in 2011. The Labour Party received 35.6% of the party votes, the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...

received 9.7%, and

New Zealand First New Zealand First ( mi, Aotearoa Tuatahi), commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a nationalist and populist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Winst ...

received 5.3%. No other party gained more than 5% of the party votes. Turnout (total votes cast as a proportion of enrolled electors) in 2014 was 75.0%.

Candidates

The Green Party stated it would not field a candidate in the by-election. Co-leader

Metiria Turei Metiria Leanne Agnes Stanton Turei (born 1970) is a New Zealand academic and a former New Zealand politician. She was a Member of Parliament from 2002 to 2017 and the female co-leader of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand from 2009 to 2017 ...

said the vote would be closely contested and that the Greens did not want to "play any role in National winning the seat".

ACT New Zealand ACT New Zealand, known simply as ACT (), is a right-wing, classical-liberal political party in New Zealand. According to former party leader Rodney Hide, ACT's values are "individual freedom, personal responsibility, doing the best for our natur ...

also decided not to stand in the by-election, with leader

David Seymour David Seymour may refer to: * David Seymour (English politician) (died 1557/58), 14th-century Member of Parliament (MP) for Wareham and Great Bedwyn *David Seymour (New Zealand politician) (born 1983), leader of the ACT Party *David Seymour (photo ...

saying they wanted to give National the best possible chance of winning the seat.

leader

Winston Peters Winston Raymond Peters (born 11 April 1945) is a New Zealand politician serving as the leader of New Zealand First since its foundation in 1993. Peters served as the 13th deputy prime minister of New Zealand from 1996 to 1998 and 2017 to 2020 ...

said his party would also not stand a candidate in Mount Roskill. He said that while prospective candidates had come forward, the party intended to focus its resources on the general election in 2017.

Perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

Adam Holland, a grandson of former Prime Minister

Sidney Holland Sir Sidney George Holland (18 October 1893 – 5 August 1961) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 25th prime minister of New Zealand from 13 December 1949 to 20 September 1957. He was instrumental in the creation and consolidation o ...

, announced his intention to run for the seat. He earlier contested the Auckland Mayoralty, which was won by Goff, receiving 1,772 votes (0.45 percent). Ultimately, Holland withdrew and did not stand.

Results

The by-election was won decisively by Labour's Michael Wood.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mount Roskill By-Election, 2016 2016 elections in New Zealand Mount Roskill 2016 December 2016 events in New Zealand Politics of the Auckland Region

Background

Candidates

Results

See also

References