Otago (New Zealand electorate)

Otago was a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate, which was replaced by the Waitaki electorate and Clutha-Southland electorates for the 2008 election.

The seat was held by the National MP Jacqui Dean MP^[1]. The seat covered the parts of the Otago region not in either Dunedin seat, excluding Clutha District, which is in Clutha-Southland. The main towns in Otago are Queenstown, Oamaru, Alexandra and Wanaka.

History

The first Otago seat was created in 1978, replacing the Otago Central seat.

The Otago seat was created in 1996 election for the first MMP election out of parts of an older Otago seat which did not include Oamaru or Alexandra, but did include the South Canterbury town of Twizel. Its size remained relatively unchanged at the boundary review set up after the 1996 and 2006 censuses, but a major upheaval of boundaries has seen Otago seat disappear and the electorate split between the Waitaki and Clutha-Southland electorates. At the same time, its boundary shifts northwards to take in a large chunk of Aoraki, including the towns of Temuka, Twizel, Kurow and Waimate. Because of the sweeping changes to the seat's boundaries, the electorate was renamed Waitaki.

Representation

Although Otago was a reasonably safe seat for the National Party, that party's poor showing at the 2002 election saw it elect a Labour MP, David Parker. Three years later, a swing to National in provincial New Zealand unseated Parker in favour of National's Jacqui Dean.

Election results

Key

  National    Labour  

Election	Winner
1978 election		Warren Cooper
1981 election
1984 election
1987 election
1990 election
1993 election
1996 election		Gavan Herlihy
1999 election
2002 election		David Parker
2005 election		Jacqui Dean
2008 election

References

1. ^ New Zealand Parliament - Jacqui Dean MP

External links

• Electorate Profile Parliamentary Library