Selwyn (New Zealand electorate)

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.

2017 general election: Selwyn[14]
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	Y Amy Adams		28,686	65.86	-4.11	26,003	59.00	-4.58
	Labour	Tony Condon		9,047	20.77	+9.22	11,508	26.11	+13.14
	Green	Chrys Horn		2,772	6.36	-5.19	2,339	5.30	-5.60
	NZ First	Lindy Michelle Palmer		1,345	3.08	-2.15	2,440	5.53	-1.42
	Opportunities	Nicky Snoyink		1,270	2.91	—	1,131	2.56	—
	ACT	Brian Davidson		198	0.45	+0.21	201	0.45	+0.06
	Conservative						87	0.2	-3.29
	Legalise Cannabis						79	0.2	-0.13
	Māori Party						75	0.17	-0.14
	Ban 1080						41	0.09	-0.13
	Outdoors						36	0.08	—
	United Future						32	0.07	-0.17
	People's Party						11	0.02	—
	Internet						6	0.01	-0.5[a]
	Democrats						3	0.01	-0.02
	Mana						2	0	-0.51[b]
Informal votes				235			74
Total valid votes				43,553			44,068
	National hold		Majority	19,639	45.09	-13.33

2014 general election: Selwyn[15]
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	Y Amy Adams		24,625	69.97	+0.83	22,809	63.58	+0.93
	Green	Peter Selwyn Hill		4,064	11.55	+1.37	3,910	10.90	-0.54
	Labour	Gordon John Dickson		3,835	10.90	-4.37	4,654	12.97	-3.15
	NZ First	Bill Woods		1,841	5.23	+1.69	2,494	6.95	+2.20
	Conservative	Roger Clibborn		619	1.76	-0.12	1,253	3.49	+1.03
	Māori Party	Sheryl Gardyne		129	0.37	+0.37	111	0.31	-0.06
	ACT	Paul Gilbert		83	0.24	+0.24	139	0.39	-0.52
	Internet Mana						184	0.51	+0.37
	Legalise Cannabis						120	0.33	+0.00
	United Future						87	0.24	-0.45
	Ban 1080						78	0.22	+0.22
	Civilian						16	0.04	+0.04
	Democrats						10	0.03	-0.01
	Focus						5	0.01	+0.01
	Independent Coalition						5	0.01	+0.01
Informal votes				182			65
Total valid votes				35,196			35,875
	National hold		Majority	20,561	58.42	+4.54

2011 general election: Selwyn[16]
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	Y Amy Adams		24,963	69.14	+8.65	23,086	62.65	+7.74
	Labour	Jo McLean		5,512	15.27	-14.54	5,942	16.12	-9.49
	Green	Eugenie Sage		3,674	10.18	+10.18	4,215	11.44	+3.91
	NZ First	Bill Woods		1,277	3.54	+3.54	1,750	4.75	+1.71
	Conservative	Wilton Gray		677	1.88	+1.88	906	2.46	+2.46
	ACT						336	0.91	-2.77
	United Future						256	0.69	-0.45
	Māori Party						137	0.37	-0.04
	Legalise Cannabis						123	0.33	+0.07
	Mana						52	0.14	+0.14
	Alliance						24	0.07	+0.02
	Democrats						13	0.04	+0.02
	Libertarianz						11	0.03	+0.01
Informal votes				526			192
Total valid votes				36,103			36,851
	National hold		Majority	19,451	53.88	+23.20

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 46,937^[17]

A by-election was held following the resignation of Ruth Richardson.^[19]

• 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