Selwyn (New Zealand electorate)

Selwyn is a current electorate in the New Zealand House of Representatives, composed of towns on the outskirts of Christchurch city. The electorate was first formed for the 1866 election and has been abolished three times during its history. It was last re-established for the 2008 election and has been held by Nicola Grigg for the National Party since the 2020 election.

Selwyn
Single-member constituency for the New Zealand House of Representatives
Location of Selwynwithin Canterbury
Region	Canterbury
Area	6,410.93 km2 (2,475.27 sq mi)
Current constituency
Created	1866
Current MP	Nicola Grigg
Party	National

The electorate is mainly rural, stretching from the Southern Alps to the Banks Peninsula, its borders broadly defined by the Rakaia River in the south and the Waimakariri River in the north. Major towns include Rolleston, Lincoln, Prebbleton, and Darfield, with smaller towns such as Tai Tapu, Leeston and Dunsandel. The electorate also includes parts of Christchurch city's territorial authority.

An electorate called Selwyn existed between 1866 and 1919. A Selwyn electorate also existed between 1946 and 1972 and again from 1978 until it was absorbed by Rakaia for the first MMP election in 1996.^[1] 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 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 to Port Hills and Harewood to Waimakariri while regaining the towns of Rakaia and Chertsey back from Rangitata.^[2] 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.^[3] It shed an area around Hornby South to Wigram, the Banks Peninsula to the recreated Banks Peninsula, the area west of the Rakaia to Rangitata, and an area around Christchurch Airport to Ilam.^[4]

Edward Stevens was the electorate's first representative in 1866; he was returned elected unopposed.^[5]

The dominant topic for the 1875 election was the abolition of the Provinces. William Reeves, the incumbent, favoured the retention of the provincial system of government, while his opponent, Cecil Fitzroy, was an abolitionist. Fitzroy, who was 31 years old and 20 years Reeves' junior, narrowly won the election.^[6][7] Edward Lee acted as returning officer for the election.^[8]

In the 1879 election, John Hall was returned unopposed.^[9] In the 1881 election, Hall beat R. Lockhead by 467 to 169 votes.^[10][11]

In the 1890 election, Alfred Saunders, Thomas Hamilton Anson, and William Jerrington Popple received 536, 485 and 237 votes, respectively.^[12]

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 and Diamond Harbour.

Key:

  Independent   Conservative   Reform   Liberal   National   Green

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.

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 46,937^[18]

A by-election was held following the resignation of Ruth Richardson.^[20]

• Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.
• 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 from Elections NZ