Onehunga, initially with the formal name of Town of Onehunga, is a former 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 ...

in the south of the city of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. Between 1861 and 1881, and between 1938 and 1996, it was represented by seven

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

. It was a stronghold for the Labour Party.

Population centres

In the 1860 electoral redistribution, the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

increased the number of representatives by 12, reflecting the immense population growth since the original electorates were established in 1853. The redistribution created 15 additional electorates with between one and three members, and Onehunga was one of the single-member electorates. The electorates were distributed to

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

so that every province had at least two members. Within each province, the number of registered electors by electorate varied greatly. The 1931 New Zealand census had been cancelled due to the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

, so the 1937 electoral redistribution had to take ten years of population growth into account. The increasing population imbalance between the

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and

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

s had slowed, and only one electorate seat was transferred from south to north. Five electorates were abolished, one former electorate (Onehunga) was re-established, and four electorates were created for the first time. The electorate was urban, and comprised a number of suburbs in the southern part of Auckland.

History

The electorate existed in the 19th century from 1861 to 1871 as Town of Onehunga, and then from 1871 to 1881 as Onehunga. For the whole period the seat was held by George O'Rorke, who became Speaker of the House of Representatives in 1879. Onehunga was recreated in 1938, and lasted to 1996. With the introduction of MMP in 1996, Onehunga and Panmure were combined into the new electorate of Maungakiekie. Except for 1990–1993, Onehunga was held by Labour from its 1938 recreation.

Members of Parliament

The Onehunga electorate was represented by seven Members of Parliament. Key

Election results

1993 election

1990 election

1987 election

1984 election

1981 election

1980 by-election

1978 election

1975 election

1972 election

1969 election

1966 election

1963 election

1960 election

1957 election

1954 election

1953 by-election

1951 election

1949 election

1946 election

1943 election

1938 election

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Onehunga (New Zealand Electorate) Historical electorates of New Zealand Politics of the Auckland Region 1860 establishments in New Zealand 1881 disestablishments in New Zealand 1996 disestablishments in New Zealand 1938 establishments in New Zealand