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Rangitīkei electorate boundaries used since the 2014 election

Rangitīkei (before 2008 styled as Rangitikei without a macron) is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The current MP for Rangitīkei is Ian McKelvie of the National Party.^[1] He has held this position since 2011.

The electorate has existed continuously since the 1861 general election.

Profile

Rangitīkei is the third largest general electorate by area in the North Island. It encircles, but does not include, Palmerston North. The electorate straddles State Highway 1 through Bulls, Marton, Taihape, and Waiouru as far as Mount Ruapehu. Its western boundary, from south of Whanganui, extends northwards to include the communities of Ohakune, National Park, and Taumarunui. At the 2014 boundary review, the population of the RangitĪkei electorate was below tolerance and projected to decline further, so the Representation Commission shifted population around Shannon from Ōtaki into RangitĪkei.^[2]

Between Census 2006 and Census 2013 the RangitĪkei electorate experienced a 0.4% decline in population in comparison to a 5.3% increase in New Zealand as a whole. One in ten (10.0%) stated their highest qualification as a Level 2 certificate, the fourth-largest share among general electorates. One in ten (10.4%) also listed their occupation as a community and personal service worker, the fifth-largest percentage. Six industries accounted for close to two-thirds (61.3%) of those working in 2013: agriculture, forestry, and fishing (16.8%); manufacturing (9.3%); education and training (9.0%); public administration (8.9%); health care and social assistance (8.9%); and retail trade (8.4%).^[2]

History

A seat named Wanganui and Rangitikei was contested at the very first general election in New Zealand in 1853. The use of an electorate named Rangitikei in its own right dates from the third session of the New Zealand Parliament. In a somewhat auspicious start for the seat, the first Member of Parliament for the seat in 1861 was future Prime Minister William Fox. Fox resigned twice; first on 16 May 1865, causing the 1865 by-election (won by Robert Pharazyn), and then on 11 March 1875, causing the 1875 by-election (won by John Ballance).^[3]

Three members died while holding the seat: Douglas Hastings Macarthur died on 24 May 1892 and was succeeded by John Stevens; Arthur Remington died on 17 August 1909 and was succeeded by Robert Smith; and Sir Roy Jack died on 24 December 1977 and was succeeded by Bruce Beetham.

The current boundaries of the seat date from the introduction of mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting in 1996. The seat was created by adding the southern tip of King Country to the northern tip of the Manawatu seat, and drafting in the towns to the east of Whanganui from Waitotara. The rural conservative nature of the seat makes it a safe National seat, though this belies the fact that for six years it was held by a third party MP, Social Credit leader Bruce Beetham.

Members of Parliament

Key

  Independent  
  Conservative  
  Liberal  
  Reform  
  Labour  
  National  
  Social Credit  

Election results

2017 election

2017 general election: Rangitīkei[4]
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 Ian McKelvie		20,809	59.59	−0.13	19,472	51.68	−1.78
	Labour	Heather Warren		10,519	28.61	+1.13	10,867	28.84	+10.42
	NZ First	Rob Stevenson		2,923	7.95	+1.09	3,900	10.35	−0.90
	Green	Robin McCandless		2,082	5.66	—	1,653	4.39	−3.40
	Conservative	Cedric Backhouse		221	0.60	−3.79	114	0.30	−5.78
	ACT	Neil Wilson		217	0.59	+0.07	173	0.46	+0.08
	Opportunities						852	2.26	—
	Māori						169	0.45	−0.11
	Legalise Cannabis						147	0.39	−0.04
	Ban 1080						96	0.25	−0.05
	Outdoors						44	0.12	—
	United Future						37	0.10	−0.12
	People's Party						18	0.05	—
	Democrats						11	0.03	−0.01
	Mana						10	0.03	−0.57[a]
	Internet						3	0.01	−0.59[b]
Informal votes				392			112
Total Valid votes				37,163			37,678
Turnout				37,927	83.51[5]	+2.10
	National hold		Majority	10,290	30.98	−1.26

2014 election

2014 general election: Rangitīkei[6]
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 Ian McKelvie		20,487	59.72	+0.85	18,596	53.46	−0.48
	Labour	Deborah Russell		9,427	27.48	−1.18	6,408	18.42	−2.77
	NZ First	Romuald Rudzki		2,352	6.86	+6.86	3,914	11.25	+3.99
	Conservative	Roy Brown		1,505	4.39	+0.66	2,115	6.08	+1.86
	ACT	Neil Wilson		179	0.52	−0.45	131	0.38	−1.13
	Green						2,709	7.79	−1.65
	Internet Mana						208	0.60	+0.40[c]
	Māori						195	0.56	−0.22
	Legalise Cannabis						151	0.43	−0.05
	Ban 1080						106	0.30	+0.30
	United Future						75	0.22	−0.60
	Civilian						23	0.07	+0.07
	Democrats						15	0.04	−0.05
	Independent Coalition						12	0.03	+0.03
	Focus						7	0.02	+0.02
Informal votes				355			119
Total Valid votes				34,305			34,784
	National hold		Majority	11,060	32.24	+2.03

2011 election

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 41,343^[8]

2008 election

2008 general election: Rangitīkei[9]
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 Simon Power		21,801	65.70		17,711	52.45
	Labour	Jills Angus Burney		9,759	29.41		9,298	27.53
	Independent	Steve Gibson		786	2.37	+2.37
	ACT	Jean Thompson		535	1.61		1,448	4.29
	United Future	John Langford		300	0.90		388	1.15
	Green						1,836	5.44
	NZ First						1,719	5.09
	Progressive						309	0.92
	Māori						307	0.92
	Bill and Ben						291	0.86
	Legalise Cannabis						135	0.40
	Kiwi						132	0.39
	Family Party						80	0.24
	Alliance						33	0.10
	Libertarianz						22	0.07
	Workers Party						20	0.06
	Democrats						18	0.05
	Pacific						17	0.05
	RAM						2	0.01
	RONZ						2	0.01
Informal votes				362			138
Total Valid votes				33,181			33,768
	National hold		Majority	12,042	36.29

2005 election

2005 general election: Rangitikei[10]
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 Simon Power		19,119	60.42		14,721	46.03
	Labour	Marilyn Brown		9,459	29.89		11,538	36.08
	NZ First	Murray Strawbridge		1,335	4.22		2,363	7.39
	United Future	Rob Moodie		718	2.27		1,027	3.21
	Independent	Richard Peirce		426	1.35
	Māori	Abe Hepi		369	1.17		195	0.61
	ACT	John Waugh		215	0.68		446	1.39
	Green						1,083	3.39
	Progressive						287	0.90
	Destiny						114	0.36
	Legalise Cannabis						85	0.27
	Christian Heritage						47	0.15
	Alliance						22	0.07
	Democrats						12	0.04
	Libertarianz						12	0.04
	One NZ						9	0.03
	99 MP						6	0.02
	Family Rights						5	0.02
	RONZ						5	0.02
	Direct Democracy						2	0.01
Informal votes				216			100
Total Valid votes				31,641			31,979
	National hold		Majority	9,660	30.53

1999 election

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

1978 by-election

1931 election

1909 by-election

1899 election

1892 by-election

1890 election

1880 by-election

1876 election

1875 by-election

Table footnotes

Notes

References

• 
  McIvor, Timothy (1989). The Rainmaker: A biography of John Ballance journalist and politician 1839–1893. Auckland: Heinemann Reed. ISBN 0-7900-0024-5.
  


• 
  Scholefield, Guy (1950) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 (3rd ed.). Wellington: Govt. Printer.
  


• 
  Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.