Kaikōura (or Kaikoura before 2008) 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 ...

, returning a single MP to the

New Zealand House of Representatives The House of Representatives () is the Unicameral, sole chamber of the New Zealand Parliament. The House passes Law of New Zealand, laws, provides Ministers in the New Zealand Government, ministers to form the Cabinet of New Zealand, Cabinet, ...

. The current MP for Kaikōura is Stuart Smith of the

National Party National Party or Nationalist Party may refer to: Active parties * National Party of Australia, commonly known as ''The Nationals'' * Bangladesh: ** Bangladesh Nationalist Party ** Jatiya Party (Ershad) a.k.a. ''National Party (Ershad)'' * Californ ...

, who won the .

Population centres

The Kaikōura electorate covers the north-eastern South Island, from

Cook Strait Cook Strait () is a strait that separates the North Island, North and South Islands of New Zealand. The strait connects the Tasman Sea on the northwest with the South Pacific Ocean on the southeast. It is wide at its narrowest point,McLintock, ...

in the north to the

Ashley River / Rakahuri The Ashley River (; officially Ashley River / Rakahuri) is in the Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury region of New Zealand. It flows generally southeastwards for before entering the Pacific Ocean at Waikuku Beach, Pegasus Bay north of Christc ...

in the south. At over , it is New Zealand's fourth-largest general electorate by area. Its biggest town is Blenheim; other towns include Amberley,

Ashley Ashley is a place name derived from the Old English words '' æsċ'' (“ash”) and '' lēah'' (“meadow”). It may refer to: People and fictional characters * Ashley (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name ...

, Cheviot,

Culverden Culverden is a small town in the northern Canterbury Region, Canterbury region of New Zealand's South Island. It lies at the centre of the Amuri Plain. Culverden has traditionally been surrounded by sheep farms. Dairy farms have now become more ...

Hanmer Springs Hanmer Springs is a small town in the Canterbury region of the South Island of New Zealand, known for its hot pools. The Māori name for Hanmer Springs is Te Whakatakanga o te Ngārahu o te ahi a Tamatea, which means "where the ashes of Tamate ...

, Havelock,

Kaikōura Kaikōura (; ) is a town on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand, located on New Zealand State Highway 1, State Highway 1, north of Christchurch. The town has an estimated permanent resident population of as of . Kaikōura is th ...

and Picton. The electorate boundaries were not changed in either the 2007 or 2013/14 boundary reviews.

History

Kaikōura is one of the original 60 electorates drawn ahead of the change to

Mixed Member Proportional Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a type of representation provided by some mixed electoral systems which combine local winner-take-all elections with a compensatory tier with party lists, in a way that produces p ...

(MMP) voting in

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

. It was made up by merging all of the old

Marlborough Marlborough or the Marlborough may refer to: Places Australia * Marlborough, Queensland * Principality of Marlborough, a short-lived micronation in 1993 * Marlborough Highway, Tasmania; Malborough was an historic name for the place at the sou ...

seat with a large portion of

Rangiora Rangiora is the largest town and seat of the Waimakariri District, in Canterbury Region, Canterbury, New Zealand. It is north of Christchurch, and is part of the Christchurch metropolitan area. With an estimated population of Rangiora is the ...

. Like the two electorates it replaced, Kaikōura is a safe seat for the National Party, returning a National MP at every election since it was created. The first representative in 1996 was

Doug Kidd Sir Douglas Lorimer Kidd (born 12 September 1941) is a former New Zealand politician. He was an MP from 1978 to 2002, representing the National Party. He served for three years as Speaker of the House of Representatives. Early life Kidd was ...

, who was previously the MP for

. He retired at the end of the parliamentary term and was succeeded by Lynda Scott in the . Scott served for two parliamentary terms before retiring from politics and returning to the medical profession in 2005. The was won by

Colin King Colin McDonald King (born 19 December 1949) is a New Zealand politician who first entered Parliament in . In late 2013, he lost the National Party selection process for the electorate for the 2014 general election. Early years and family Kin ...

, who served for three parliamentary terms. In December 2013, King was deselected as National's candidate for Kaikoura, losing a selection challenge by Stuart Smith, who won the general election in September with a preliminary majority of 11,510 votes. Based on preliminary election results,

Steffan Browning Steffan John Browning (born 3 July 1954) is a New Zealand politician of the Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand. He was elected as a member of the House of Representatives in 2011 and retired in 2017. Early life Browning was born in Clyde, New ...

of the

Green Party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice. Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...

who became a list MP in , was the highest ranked Green candidate who was not returned to parliament. When final results were released, the Green Party had gained an additional seat, and Browning was confirmed as a list MP.

Members of Parliament

Key

List MPs

Members of Parliament elected from party lists in elections where that person also unsuccessfully contested the Kaikōura electorate. Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections.

Election results

2023 election

2020 election

2017 election

2014 election

2011 election

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 45,958

2008 election

2005 election

2002 election

1999 election

1996 election

Table footnotes

References

External links

Kaikōura electorate profile
''Parliamentary Library'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaikoura (New Zealand electorate) New Zealand electorates 1996 establishments in New Zealand Waimakariri District