Whanganui (New Zealand electorate)

Whanganui (known as Wanganui until 1996) is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It was first established in 1860 for the 3rd Parliament and has existed continuously since then.

It is held by Carl Bates of the National Party, who won it in the 2023 general election.

Establishment
In the 1860 electoral redistribution, the House of Representatives increased the number of representatives by 12, reflecting the immense population growth since the original electorates were established in 1853. The redistribution created 15 additional electorates with between one and three members, and the electorate was split into two separate electorates: the  electorate and the Wanganui electorate, with one member each.

Population centres
The current electorate is based on the urban area of Whanganui, the towns Ōpunake and Hāwera, and smaller centres Kaponga, Eltham, Normanby, Manaia, Patea and Waverley; broadly speaking, the Whanganui and South Taranaki local government districts.

History
Henry Shafto Harrison was the first representative. His 7 February 1861 election was declared invalid. He stood again in the and was elected again. He then served the electorate until the end of the term in 1866.

Harrison, John Bryce and John Garner contested the. The nomination meeting was held on Friday, 2 March 1866. Harrison, Bryce and Garner received 51, 102 and 7 votes, respectively, at the election on the following day. Bryce was thus declared elected. Bryce resigned in 1867.

The resulting 6 May was won by Harrison, and he served until the dissolution of Parliament on 30 December 1870.

Bryce was again elected in the 30 January. This time, he served three parliamentary terms until the dissolution in November 1881.

Wanganui became a two-member electorate for the 12 January 1876 election. Apart from Bryce, Julius Vogel was elected, who was later to become Premier. Vogel resigned on 9 September 1876.

The resulting 2 October was won by William Fox, resulting in his second period of representation of a Whanganui-centred electorate. He served until the end of the term on 15 August 1879.

Bryce and John Ballance won the. They both served until the end of the term, with Parliament being dissolved on 8 November 1881.

For the, the electorate reverted to being represented by a single member. The election, held on 9 December, was won by William Hogg Watt. He served until the end of the term, with Parliament being dissolved on 27 June 1884.

The was once again won by John Ballance. This time, he would serve in three successive Parliaments. He died in office on 27 April 1893 during the 11th Parliament. Ballance formed the Liberal Party after the and became its leader, and thus introduced party politics to New Zealand. The Liberal Government of New Zealand would last for 21 years and is the longest serving government in New Zealand's history.

Ballance's death triggered the, which was held on 13 June and won by Archibald Willis, who was re-elected at the a few months later.

Gilbert Carson was successful in the. He served one term. He was succeeded by Willis in the, who served two more terms for the electorate.

James Thomas Hogan won the. He served two terms and was defeated in the by Bill Veitch.

Veitch had a long career in the electorate, serving until 1935, when he defeated. He was initially an Independent, but joined the Liberal Party in 1925, and changed to the United Party in 1928.

Joe Cotterill won the electorate in the for the Labour Party. He also had a long career, retiring in 1960 from the Wanganui seat.

He was succeeded by his party colleague George Spooner in the, who served three terms and was defeated in by Bill Tolhurst from the National Party.

Tolhurst served one term and at the, the electorate returned to Labour. Russell Marshall served six terms and retired in 1990.

In the, Cam Campion secured the seat for National. He retired in 1993 and died two years after that.

The seat returned to Labour again, with Jill Pettis winning the. She was the first woman to represent Wanganui. She served four terms, until her defeat in the by Chester Borrows of the National Party. Pettis served an additional term as a List MP until 2008. Borrows announced in 2016 that he would not seek reelection at the 2017 general election and the seat was won by Harete Hipango, retaining it for the National Party. She however, was defeated after one term by Labour's Steph Lewis.

Several members (Fox, Vogel and Ballance) became Premier. Terry Heffernan stood in the electorate five times for four parties, from to.

Members of Parliament
Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at a general election.

Key

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

2011 election
Electorate (as at 11 November 2011): 43,350

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