Waimakariri 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 ...

, formed for the and 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 laws, provides ministers to form Cabinet, and supervises the work of government. It is also responsible for adopting the state's budgets and a ...

. The MP for Waimakariri is Matt Doocey of the National Party. He has held this position since the and takes over from

Kate Wilkinson Kate Wilkinson (October 25, 1916 – February 9, 1993) was an American stage, film and television actress. Career She is best known to TV audiences for her roles as Viola Stapleton in the CBS soap opera ''Guiding Light'', a role she playe ...

, who defeated Clayton Cosgrove ( Labour) in the .

Population areas

Waimakariri centres on metropolitan Christchurch and spreads northward up the coast of the South Island. From Christchurch it contains the suburbs of Casebrook and

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

; from Waimakariri District to its north, it takes in the towns of

Kaiapoi Kaiapoi is a town in the Waimakariri District of the Canterbury region, in the South Island of New Zealand. The town is located approximately 17 kilometres north of central Christchurch, close to the mouth of the Waimakariri River. It is con ...

and

Rangiora Rangiora is the largest town and seat of the Waimakariri District, in Canterbury, New Zealand. It is north of Christchurch, and is part of the Christchurch metropolitan area. With an estimated population of Rangiora is the 30th largest urba ...

as well as a selection of small inland localities such as Cust and

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

. Boundary changes following the 2006 census were relatively minor; Waimakariri managed to avoid the upheaval wrought upon electorates in Christchurch, losing Bishopdale to Ilam and the last remaining segment of

Papanui Papanui is a major suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is situated five kilometers to the northwest of the city centre. Papanui is a middle socio-economic area with a population of 3,645 consisting predominantly of Pākehā (NZ Eu ...

Christchurch Central Christchurch Central is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate in the South Island city of Christchurch. The electorate was established for the 1946 election and, until 2011 had always been won by the Labour Party. Since 2008, the incumbent w ...

. Along with neighbouring Selwyn, Waimakariri has been experiencing strong population growth, with many people from Christchurch displaced by the earthquakes. In the 2013/14 boundary review by the Representation Commission, Waimakariri lost most of

Redwood Sequoioideae, popularly known as redwoods, is a subfamily of coniferous trees within the family Cupressaceae. It includes the largest and tallest trees in the world. Description The three redwood subfamily genera are '' Sequoia'' from coasta ...

and Marshland to

and Christchurch East respectively, while it gained the less populated Harewood north of Sawyers Arms Road from Selwyn.

History

The existence of Waimakariri dates back to the introduction of MMP voting in the 1996 general election, when the number of South Island electorates fell from twenty-five to sixteen. The electorate originates in the old

electorate, with

Hurunui District Hurunui District is a territorial local government district within the Canterbury Region on the east coast of New Zealand's South Island, north of Christchurch. It stretches from the east coast to the Main Divide. Its land area is . Local gov ...

shorn off and placed in Kaikōura, and the resultant electorate pulled into Christchurch via State Highway 71, absorbing parts of Christchurch previously in the electorate of Christchurch North. The first contest saw Rangiora's Jim Gerard easily defeated by former Prime Minister and MP for Christchurch North, Mike Moore. He left the office in July 1999, having been elected

Director-General of the World Trade Organization The director-general of the World Trade Organization is the officer of the World Trade Organization (WTO) responsible for supervising and directing the organization's administrative operations. Since the World Trade Organization's decisions are ...

. Clayton Cosgrove won the second contest in 1999 and was confirmed in 2002, 2005 and 2008. Given that Rangiora was a safe National electorate and Christchurch North a safe Labour electorate, and given the urban-rural makeup of the electorate, Waimakariri does not favour any party. At the 2005 election, while Waimakariri's electors were returning incumbent Clayton Cosgrove by 5,064 votes (and in the process slashing his majority in half), their party vote intentions were more ambiguous, with National winning 79 more party votes than Labour, setting Waimakariri up to be a key electorate at the 2008 election. Cosgrove retained the electorate with a much narrower 390 majority in 2008, whilst his opponent

's party (National) got over 5000 more party votes. Results from the gave Wilkinson a lead of 642 votes over Cosgrove, shifting the electorate from marginal Labour to marginal National. Wilkinson retired at the end of the parliamentary term and was replaced as National's candidate for the by Matt Doocey, who had previously contested the in Christchurch East. Doocey beat Cosgrove with an increased majority. In the , Doocey beat the Labour candidate, Dan Rosewarne, with an increased majority of that over Cosgrove although the National party vote decreased.

Members of Parliament

Key

List MPs

Members of Parliament elected from party lists in elections where that person also unsuccessfully contested the Waimakariri electorate. Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections. ¹Jim Gerard retired in April 1997 to take appointment as High Commissioner to Canada
²Rosewarne entered Parliament on 25 July 2022, following the resignation of Kris Faafoi.

Election results

2020 election

2017 election

2014 election

2011 election

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 47,387

2008 election

2005 election

1999 election

Refer to Candidates in the New Zealand general election 1999 by electorate#Waimakariri for a list of candidates.

Table footnotes

References

External links

Electorate Profile
''Parliamentary Library'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Waimakariri (New Zealand Electorate) New Zealand electorates Politics of Canterbury, New Zealand 1996 establishments in New Zealand Waimakariri District