Otago Central or Central Otago was a 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

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

region of New Zealand, from 1911 to 1919 as ''Otago Central''; from 1928 to 1957 as ''Central Otago''; and from 1957 to 1978 as ''Otago Central''. It was replaced by the

electorate. The electorate was represented by six

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 ...

Population centres

In the 1911 electoral redistribution, the

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

gained a further seat from the

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 ...

due to faster population growth. In addition, there were substantial population movements within each island, and significant changes resulted from this. Only four electorates were unaltered, five electorates were abolished, one former electorate was re-established, and four electorates, including Otago Central, were created for the first time. The Otago Central electorate mostly covered areas that previously belonged to the and electorates, which were both abolished through the 1911 electoral redistribution. Settlements that fell within the original Otago Central electorate included

Roxburgh Roxburgh () is a civil parish and formerly a royal burgh, in the historic county of Roxburghshire in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was an important trading burgh in High Medieval to early modern Scotland. In the Middle Ages it had at leas ...

Alexandra Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

, and Ranfurly. In the 1918 electoral redistribution, the Otago Central electorate was abolished. Most of its area went to an enlarged electorate, but smaller areas went to the , , and electorates. In the 1927 electoral redistribution, the

gained a further electorate from the

due to faster population growth. Five electorates were abolished, two former electorates, including Central Otago, were re-established, and three electorates were created for the first time.

History

The first representative of the Otago Central electorate was Robert Scott, who was the incumbent from the Tuapeka electorate.

Members of Parliament

The Otago Central electorate was represented by six Members of Parliament: Key

Election results

1975 election

1972 election

1969 election

1966 election

1963 election

1960 election

1957 election

1954 election

1951 election

1949 election

1946 election

1943 election

There were three candidates in 1943, with the election won by William Bodkin over James McIndoe Mackay.

1931 election

1928 election

Notes

References

* * {{Historic electorates of New Zealand , state=collapsed Historical electorates of New Zealand 1911 establishments in New Zealand 1928 establishments in New Zealand 1919 disestablishments in New Zealand 1978 disestablishments in New Zealand Politics of Otago