Rangiriri (New Zealand electorate)

Rangiriri was a rural New Zealand parliamentary electorate in the Waikato Region from 1978 to 1984.

Population centres

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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 Rangiriri) or re-established. These changes came into effect for the 1978 election.[3] The electorate existed from 1978 to 1984: it replaced parts of Franklin and Raglan in 1978, and was replaced mostly by a recreated Raglan electorate, with the balance going to a recreated Franklin in the 1983 electoral redistribution.[4]

Population centres for those six years included Pukekohe, Meremere, Huntly, and Ngāruawāhia.[2]

History

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In the 1978 election, the Rangiriri electorate was won by future National minister Bill Birch, who had been MP for the Franklin electorate since the 1972 election. When Rangiriri was abolished for the 1984 election, Birch transferred back to the Franklin electorate.[5]

Member of Parliament

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Key

  National

Election Winner
1978 election Bill Birch
1981 election
Electorate abolished 1984; see Raglan and Franklin

Election results

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1981 election

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1981 general election: Rangiriri[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
National Bill Birch 8,148 46.83 −0.81
Labour Roy Haywood 5,144 29.56
Social Credit Ron Gilberd 4,105 23.59 +6.64
Majority 3,004 17.26 +3.60
Turnout 17,397 87.33 +19.16
Registered electors 19,919

1978 election

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1978 general election: Rangiriri[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
National Bill Birch 7,934 47.64
Labour Robert Frederick McKee 5,658 33.97
Social Credit Ron Gilberd 2,824 16.95
Values John Cameron 238 1.42
Majority 2,276 13.66
Turnout 16,654 68.17
Registered electors 24,428

Notes

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  1. ^ McRobie 1989, pp. 8–9, 51, 119.
  2. ^ a b McRobie 1989, p. 119.
  3. ^ McRobie 1989, pp. 115–120.
  4. ^ McRobie 1989, pp. 118–123.
  5. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 184.
  6. ^ a b Norton 1988, pp. 328.

References

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  • 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.
  • 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.