Selwyn is a current electorate in 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 ap ...

, composed of towns on the outskirts of

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

city. The electorate was first formed for the and has been abolished three times during its history. It was last re-established for the and has been held by

Nicola Grigg Nicola may refer to: People * Nicola (name), including a list of people with the given name or, less commonly, the surname **Nicola (artist) or Nicoleta Alexandru, singer who represented Romania at the 2003 Eurovision Song Contest * Nicola people, ...

for the National Party since the .

Region and population centres

The electorate is mainly rural, stretching from the Southern Alps to the

Banks Peninsula Banks Peninsula is a peninsula of volcanic origin on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It has an area of approximately and encompasses two large harbours and many smaller bays and coves. The South Island's largest city, ...

, its borders broadly defined by the

Rakaia River The Rakaia River is in the Canterbury Plains in New Zealand's South Island. The Rakaia River is one of the largest braided rivers in New Zealand. The Rakaia River has a mean flow of and a mean annual seven-day low flow of . In the 1850s, Eur ...

in the south and the

Waimakariri River The Waimakariri River is one of the largest rivers in Canterbury, on the eastern coast of New Zealand's South Island. It flows for in a generally southeastward direction from the Southern Alps across the Canterbury Plains to the Pacific Ocean. ...

in the north. Major towns include

Rolleston Rolleston may refer to: Places * Rolleston, Queensland, Australia * Rolleston, Leicestershire, England * Rolleston, Nottinghamshire, England ** Rolleston railway station * Rolleston on Dove, Staffordshire, England ** Rolleston Hall * Rolleston, ...

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

, Prebbleton, and Darfield, with smaller towns such as Tai Tapu,

Leeston Leeston (Māori: ''Karumata'') is a town on the Canterbury Plains in the South Island of New Zealand. It is located 30 kilometres southwest of Christchurch, between the shore of Lake Ellesmere / Te Waihora and the mouth of the Rakaia River. The ...

and

Dunsandel Dunsandel is a small rural town in the Canterbury region of the South Island, New Zealand. The town is located on the Canterbury Plains just south of the Selwyn River / Waikirikiri and about 40 km south of Christchurch. Dunsandel is a ju ...

. The electorate also includes parts of

city's territorial authority.

History

Existence and changes to area

An electorate called Selwyn existed between

1866 Events January–March * January 1 ** Fisk University, a historically black university, is established in Nashville, Tennessee. ** The last issue of the abolitionist magazine '' The Liberator'' is published. * January 6 – Ottoman t ...

and

1919 Events January * January 1 ** The Czechoslovak Legions occupy much of the self-proclaimed "free city" of Pressburg (now Bratislava), enforcing its incorporation into the new republic of Czechoslovakia. ** HMY ''Iolaire'' sinks off the ...

. A Selwyn electorate also existed between 1946 and

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using mean solar tim ...

and again from 1978 until it was absorbed by

Rakaia Rakaia is a town seated close to the southern banks of the Rakaia River on the Canterbury Plains in New Zealand's South Island, approximately 57 km south of Christchurch on State Highway 1 and the Main South Line. Immediately north of the ...

for the first MMP election in 1996. The latest version of the Selwyn electorate was created for the 2008 election. This followed a review of electoral boundaries conducted after the 2006 Census, because of a general northwards population movement in the South Island. Even though the number of South Island electorates is fixed, the decline in the population of electorates from Rakaia south has resulted in the boundaries of electorates from

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

north to Rakaia shifting further northwards. Due to the rapid growth of Selwyn relative to Christchurch (which lost population after the earthquakes), the 2013 redistribution had Selwyn losing Halswell and

Westmorland Westmorland (, formerly also spelt ''Westmoreland'';R. Wilkinson The British Isles, Sheet The British IslesVision of Britain/ref> is a historic county in North West England spanning the southern Lake District and the northern Dales. It had an ...

Port Hills The Port Hills are a range of hills in Canterbury Region, so named because they lie between the city of Christchurch and its port at Lyttelton. They are an eroded remnant of the Lyttelton volcano, which erupted millions of years ago. The hi ...

and Harewood to Waimakariri while regaining the towns of

and

Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, south-west of central London. It grew up round Chertsey Abbey, founded in 666 CE, and gained a market charter from Henry I. A bridge across the River Thames first appeared in t ...

back from Rangitata. Data from the 2018 census showed Selywn's population had continued to grow – it had the largest discrepancy of any electorate – and so the electorate would need to lose further area for the 2020 boundaries. It shed an area around Hornby South to , the Banks Peninsula to the recreated , the area west of the

to , and an area around

Christchurch Airport Christchurch Airport is the main airport that serves Christchurch, New Zealand. It is located to the northwest of the city centre, in the suburb of Harewood. Christchurch (Harewood) Airport officially opened on 18 May 1940 and became New Zea ...

to .

Voting history

Edward Stevens was the electorate's first representative in 1866; he was returned elected unopposed. The dominant topic for the 1875 election was the abolition of the

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 ou ...

. William Reeves, the incumbent, favoured the retention of the provincial system of government, while his opponent,

Cecil Fitzroy Cecil Augustus Fitzroy (10 January 1844 – 13 November 1917) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from the Canterbury region of New Zealand, and later Mayor of Hastings. Early life Fitzroy was born in Norfolk, England, in 1844. His fathe ...

, was an abolitionist. Fitzroy, who was 31 years old and 20 years Reeves' junior, narrowly won the election. Edward Lee acted as

returning officer In various parliamentary systems, a returning officer is responsible for overseeing elections in one or more constituencies. Australia In Australia a returning officer is an employee of the Australian Electoral Commission or a state electoral ...

for the election. In the , John Hall was returned unopposed. In the , Hall beat R. Lockhead by 467 to 169 votes. In the , Alfred Saunders, Thomas Hamilton Anson, and William Jerrington Popple received 536, 485 and 237 votes, respectively. The electorate is one of the National Party's safest seats. National have held the seat, whenever it has existed since it was first recreated in 1946. In 2011, the candidate for the other major New Zealand party, Labour, received less than 11% of the electoral vote and came third, behind the Greens in the 2011 election. In that election, the only polling booths where Adams didn't receive the most votes were

Arthur's Pass Arthur's Pass, previously called Camping Flat then Bealey Flats, and for some time officially Arthurs Pass, is a township in the Southern Alps of the South Island of New Zealand, located in the Selwyn district. It is a popular base for explorin ...

and Diamond Harbour.

Members of Parliament

Key:

List MPs

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

Election results

2020 election

2017 election

2014 election

2011 election

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 46,937

2008 election

1994 by-election

A by-election was held following the resignation of

Ruth Richardson Ruth Margaret Richardson (born 13 December 1950) is a New Zealand retired politician of the National Party who served as Minister of Finance from 1990 to 1993. Her 1991 budget, which she dubbed the "Mother of all Budgets", formed the catalyst ...

1993 election

1990 election

1987 election

1984 election

1981 election

1978 election

1966 election

1963 election

1960 election

1957 election

1954 election

1951 election

1949 election

1946 election

1899 election

1896 election

1890 election

1884 by-election

1883 by-election

1875 election

Notes

References

* * *

External links

Electorate Profile from Elections NZ
{{electorates of New Zealand New Zealand electorates Politics of Canterbury, New Zealand 1865 establishments in New Zealand 1946 establishments in New Zealand 1978 establishments in New Zealand 2008 establishments in New Zealand 1919 disestablishments in New Zealand 1972 disestablishments in New Zealand 1996 disestablishments in New Zealand