![Epsom electorate, 2014](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bb/Epsom_electorate%2C_2014.svg)
Epsom is a New Zealand parliamentary
electorate
Electorate may refer to:
* The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate''
* The dominion of a Prince-elector in the Holy Roman Empire until 1806
* An electoral district
An ...
, returning one Member of Parliament to the
New Zealand House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the New Zealand Parliament. The House passes Law of New Zealand, laws, provides Ministers of the New Zealand Government, ministers to form Cabinet of New Zealand, Cabinet, and supervises the ...
. As of the
2020 general election
The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2020. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems maintains a comprehensive list of upcoming elections on its E-Guide Platform. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calend ...
, its member of parliament is
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 ...
.
Epsom has been an important electorate in New Zealand politics as, since 2005, it allowed the
ACT Party
ACT New Zealand, known simply as ACT (), is a Right-wing politics, right-wing, Classical liberalism, classical-liberal List of political parties in New Zealand, political party in New Zealand. According to former party leader Rodney Hide, ACT's ...
to gain seats in parliament without meeting the five percent party vote
threshold
Threshold may refer to:
Architecture
* Threshold (door), the sill of a door
Media
* ''Threshold'' (1981 film)
* ''Threshold'' (TV series), an American science fiction drama series produced during 2005-2006
* "Threshold" (''Stargate SG-1''), ...
as the party leaders David Seymour,
John Banks John Banks or Bankes may refer to:
Politics and law
*Sir John Banks, 1st Baronet (1627–1699), English merchant and Member of Parliament
* John Banks (American politician) (1793–1864), U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania
*John Gray Banks (188 ...
and
Rodney Hide
Rodney Philip Hide (born 16 December 1956) is a former New Zealand politician of the ACT New Zealand party. Hide was a Member of Parliament for ACT from 1996 until 2011, was ACT's leader between 2004 and 2011, and represented the constituency f ...
each won the electorate.
Population centres
Epsom is based around central and eastern
Auckland isthmus. It contains the suburbs of
Parnell,
Remuera,
Mount Eden,
Newmarket, half of
Greenlane and the eponymous suburb of
Epsom. Under boundary changes resulting from the 2006 census, Epsom was enlarged to include the central city suburb of
Grafton, but most of the area was lost again following the 2013 census. It is New Zealand's smallest electorate, covering just .
Epsom was created ahead of the first
Mixed Member Proportional
Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a mixed electoral system in which votes cast are considered in local elections and also to determine overall party vote tallies, which are used to allocate additional members to produce ...
(MMP) election in
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
, carved out of the
Remuera and
Eden seats. Remuera was a safe seat for the National Party, having never elected a member of parliament from the
Labour Party, while Eden was a
bellwether seat, changing hands with the change of government. Both of these seats were held by National MPs –
Christine Fletcher in Eden and
Doug (later Sir Douglas) Graham in Remuera.
The electorate's population is predominantly
European New Zealanders with a significant
Asian
Asian may refer to:
* Items from or related to the continent of Asia:
** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia
** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia
** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...
population. The median household income is $118,300 – the highest of all New Zealand electorates.
History
The Epsom seat was first contested in New Zealand's first MMP election in
1996
File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
. The National party candidate was
Christine Fletcher; she came out of the election with the nation's biggest personal majority: a 19,000 vote margin over the second placed
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 ...
candidate,
Helen Duncan
Victoria Helen McCrae Duncan (née MacFarlane, 25 November 1897 – 6 December 1956) was a Scottish medium best known as the last person to be imprisoned under the Witchcraft Act 1735 for fraudulent claims. She was famous for producing ectopla ...
.
With Fletcher standing down at the
1999
File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...
election to focus on her role as the newly 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 ...
, the electorate battle was a contest between new National candidate
Richard Worth
Richard Westwood Worth (3 July 1948 – 10 May 2022) was a New Zealand politician of the New Zealand National Party. He was the Member of Parliament for Epsom from 1999 to 2005 and a list MP from 2005 to 2009.
Prior to entering Parliament, W ...
and ACT List MP
Rodney Hide
Rodney Philip Hide (born 16 December 1956) is a former New Zealand politician of the ACT New Zealand party. Hide was a Member of Parliament for ACT from 1996 until 2011, was ACT's leader between 2004 and 2011, and represented the constituency f ...
. Worth won the seat by approximately 1,900 votes. In
2002
File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...
, he easily retained Epsom, with other parties contesting only the party vote.
The
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
race for Epsom was won by Rodney Hide
after a tough contest for the personal vote. As the leader of ACT, Hide was determined to contest Epsom in order to guarantee his party's representation in the next parliament, should ACT not break the five percent
threshold
Threshold may refer to:
Architecture
* Threshold (door), the sill of a door
Media
* ''Threshold'' (1981 film)
* ''Threshold'' (TV series), an American science fiction drama series produced during 2005-2006
* "Threshold" (''Stargate SG-1''), ...
– under New Zealand electoral law, a party can gain representation by either getting five percent of the vote or by winning one or more electoral seats.
As it became more likely ACT would not break five percent, the campaign in Epsom became more intense, with Hide lobbying voters to vote
strategically
Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the "art ...
to keep ACT in Parliament, a message that ultimately prevailed, with National MP Richard Worth, defeated by 3,102 votes on election night and returned to Parliament via the National Party list. Hide's win in Epsom also allowed ACT member
Heather Roy
Heather Roy (born 5 March 1964), is a former New Zealand politician who served as an ACT Member of Parliament from 2002 until 2011.
From 2006 until 17 August 2010, Roy was ACT's Deputy Leader. Following the signing of the National–ACT Suppl ...
to enter parliament.
Hide increased his majority in 2008, and winning Epsom allowed four other ACT MPs to enter parliament. But Hide stepped down as ACT leader in April 2011 after succumbing to a leadership challenge from Don Brash.
The ACT party selected former Auckland Mayor
John Banks John Banks or Bankes may refer to:
Politics and law
*Sir John Banks, 1st Baronet (1627–1699), English merchant and Member of Parliament
* John Banks (American politician) (1793–1864), U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania
*John Gray Banks (188 ...
as their candidate for the
2011 election, who won the contest.
In 2013, John Banks announced that he would leave Parliament at the 2014 election, and so would not contest the Epsom electorate. After being found guilty at trial for electoral fraud, he announced his resignation effective 13 June 2014, leaving the Epsom seat vacant.
Due to the proximity of the
next general election, Parliament voted by
supermajority
A supermajority, supra-majority, qualified majority, or special majority is a requirement for a proposal to gain a specified level of support which is greater than the threshold of more than one-half used for a simple majority. Supermajority ru ...
to avoid a by-election.
Members of Parliament
Key
List MPs
Members of Parliament elected from party lists in elections where that person also unsuccessfully contested the Epsom electorate. Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections.
1Replaced
Jill White as list MP
2Resigned June 2009, list place taken by
Cam Calder
Election results
2020 election
2017 election
2014 election
2011 election
Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 48,761
2008 election
2005 election
2002 election
1999 election
1996 election
Footnotes
References
External links
Electorate Profile ''Parliamentary Library''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Epsom (New Zealand Electorate)
New Zealand electorates
New Zealand electorates in the Auckland Region
1996 establishments in New Zealand