Otago (New Zealand electorate)

Otago was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate first created for the 1978 election, which was replaced by the Waitaki electorate and Clutha-Southland electorates for the 2008 election. Its last representative was Jacqui Dean of the National Party.

The 1977 electoral redistribution was the most overtly political since the Representation Commission had been established through an amendment to the Representation Act in 1886, initiated by Muldoon's National Government.^[1] As part of the 1976 census, a large number of people failed to fill out an electoral re-registration card, and census staff had not been given the authority to insist on the card being completed. This had little practical effect for people on the general roll, but it transferred Māori to the general roll if the card was not handed in. Together with a northward shift of New Zealand's population, this resulted in five new electorates having to be created in the upper part of the North Island.^[2] The electoral redistribution was very disruptive, and 22 electorates were abolished, while 27 electorates were newly created (including Otago) or re-established. These changes came into effect for the 1978 election.^[3]

When the electorate was first formed, it mostly replaced the Otago Central electorate, but also gained areas from the Clutha electorate (including Tapanui and Lawrence) and the coastal strip north of Dunedin from the Oamaru electorate (including Waikouaiti, Palmerston, and Hampden). The main towns that came from the Otago Central electorate were Queenstown, Alexandra, Cromwell, and Wānaka.^[4] In the 1983 electoral redistribution, the southern boundary moved north and some towns transferred to the Clutha electorate, including Tapanui, Lawrence, and Roxburgh. To compensate, some outer suburbs of Dunedin on the northern part of Otago Peninsula were gained from the Dunedin North electorate, including St Leonards and Ravensbourne.^[5]

The electoral redistribution carried out for the 1996 election saw the electorate move further north to now include Twizel. The electoral redistribution carried out after the 2006 census saw Otago abolished, with its area split between the Waitaki and Clutha-Southland electorates.

The Otago electorate was first won by Warren Cooper of the National Party in 1978, who had been the representative for the Otago Central electorate since the 1975 election.^[6] When Cooper retired at the 1996 election, he was succeeded by Gavan Herlihy.^[7] Although Otago was a reasonably safe seat for the National Party, that party's poor showing at the 2002 election saw the Otago constituents elect a Labour MP, David Parker.^[7][8] Three years later in 2005, a swing to National in provincial New Zealand unseated Parker in favour of National's Jacqui Dean.^[9] When the Otago electorate was abolished in 2008, Dean transferred to the Waitaki electorate.^[10]

Key

  National   Labour   ACT

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

2005 general election: Otago[9]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Jacqui Dean		17,364			16,333
	Labour	N David Parker		15,369			14,573
	Green	Jane Pearce		1,596			2,251
	ACT	Gerry Eckhoff		848			585
	United Future	Gerald Telford		620			783
	Progressive	Barry Silcock		270			389
	Democrats	Richard Prosser		133			53
	Direct Democracy	Simon Guy		88			36
	NZ First						1,407
	Destiny						132
	Legalise Cannabis						106
	Māori Party						63
	Christian Heritage						38
	Alliance						26
	99 MP						11
	Libertarianz						10
	Family Rights						7
	RONZ						6
	One NZ						4
Informal votes				331			104
Total valid votes				36,288			36,813
	National gain from Labour		Majority	1,995

2002 general election: Otago[8]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Parker		14,113			12,943
	National	N Gavan Herlihy		13,429			8,472
	ACT	Gerry Eckhoff		1,294			1,919
	United Future	Allan Smellie		1,115			1,779
	Christian Heritage	Mike Ferguson		544			431
	Progressive	Hessel van Wieren		438			528
	Alliance	Sam Huggard		441			260
	Green						2,598
	NZ First						2,127
	ORNZ						635
	Legalise Cannabis						232
	One NZ						19
	NMP						7
	Mana Māori						4
Informal votes				489			92
Total valid votes				31,374			31,954
	Labour gain from National		Majority	684

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

• McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.

• Electorate Profile Parliamentary Library