Hamilton East (New Zealand electorate)

Since the 1969 election, the number of electorates in the South Island was fixed at 25, with continued faster population growth in the North Island leading to an increase in the number of general electorates. There were 84 electorates for the 1969 election,^[1] and the 1972 electoral redistribution saw three additional general seats created for the North Island, bringing the total number of electorates to 87.^[2] Together with increased urbanisation in Christchurch and Nelson, the changes proved very disruptive to existing electorates.^[2] In the South Island, three electorates were abolished, and three electorates were newly created.^[3] In the North Island, five electorates were abolished, two electorates were recreated, and six electorates were newly created (including Hamilton East).^[4]

The earlier Hamilton electorate dates from 1922. In 1969 Hamilton West was split off; that electorate initially extended to the west coast. In 1972 the additional electorate of Hamilton East was created, and Hamilton was abolished.^[5]

The electorate is mainly urban, and covers the eastern part of the city of Hamilton. The Waikato River divides the city in half and forms the boundary between the Hamilton East and Hamilton West electorates. Only one other electorate borders Hamilton East, the rural electorate of Waikato to the east.^[6]

Hamilton East includes the suburbs of Rototuna, Flagstaff, Queenwood, Chedworth Park, Fairfield, Fairview Downs, Enderley, Claudelands, Hamilton East, Hillcrest, Silverdale and Riverlea.^[6]

Hamilton East is home to the University of Waikato, and 11.3% of the electorate's workforce is employed in education and training, the second-highest proportion in the country. The majority of households are families, and the median family income is NZ$61,500, which is $2,500 higher than the national median.^[6]

Nearly every party since 1972 that has won Hamilton East and its sister seat of Hamilton West has gone on to form the government, earning these seats a reputation as bellwether seats. One notable exception was in 1993, when Labour captured both Hamilton seats from National, but failed to win a parliamentary majority. In recent years, such as the 1999 and 2005 elections, Hamilton East has been won more often by a National candidate, despite the Labour Party forming the government.

Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections.

Key

  Labour  National  NZ First

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

¹Resigned March 2008, list seat taken by William Sio

2020 general election: Hamilton East[8]
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	%	±%
	Labour	Jamie Strange		18,542	46.92	+10.16	19,471	48.74	+13.36
	National	N David Bennett		15,569	39.40	-13.59	10,875	27.22	-20.23
	Green	Rimu Bhooi		1,676	4.24	-1.48	3,171	7.93	+1.87
	Opportunities	Naomi Pocock		848	2.14	—	868	2.17	-0.99
	ACT	Myah Deedman		721	1.82	+1.43	2,744	6.86	+6.25
	New Conservative	Julie Manders		665	1.68	—	796	1.99	+1.79
	NZ First	Stuart Husband		368	0.93	-2.18	836	2.09	-3.57
	Advance NZ	Siggi Henry		298	0.75	—	291	0.72	—
	Vision NZ	Destry Murphy		101	0.25	—	57	0.14	—
	Independent	Matt Coleman		67	0.16	—
	RONZ	Jack Gielen		28	0.07	-0.11
	Māori Party						193	0.48	-0.06
	Legalise Cannabis						126	0.31	-0.07
	ONE						113	0.28	—
	Outdoors						27	0.06	±0.00
	TEA						20	0.05	—
	Sustainable NZ						17	0.04	—
	Social Credit						14	0.03	+0.01
	Heartland						7	0.01	—
Informal votes				630			320
Total valid votes				39,513			39,946
Turnout				39,946
	Labour gain from National		Majority	2,973	7.52	-8.71

2017 general election: Hamilton East[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 David Bennett		18,975	52.99	−4.38	17,380	47.45	−2.58
	Labour	Jamie Strange		13,165	36.76	+9.56	12,958	35.38	+11.61
	Green	Sam Taylor		2,048	5.72	−1.47	2,221	6.06	−4.96
	NZ First	Pita Paraone		1,113	3.11	−0.72	2,074	5.66	−1.48
	ACT	James McDowall		140	0.39	−0.02	225	0.61	−0.11
	RONZ	Jack Gielen		65	0.18	—
	Opportunities						1,157	3.16	—
	Māori Party						199	0.54	−0.10
	Legalise Cannabis						89	0.24	−0.08
	Conservative						75	0.20	−4.61
	United Future						29	0.08	−0.22
	Outdoors						23	0.06	—
	People's Party						22	0.06	—
	Ban 1080						17	0.05	−0.03
	Mana Party						10	0.03	—
	Internet						9	0.02	—
	Democrats						6	0.02	−0.01
Informal votes				304			135
Total valid votes				35,810			36,630
	National hold		Majority	5,810	16.23	−13.94

2014 general election: Hamilton East[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 David Bennett		19,393	57.37	+0.26	17,395	50.03	-1.36
	Labour	Cliff Allen		9,194	27.20	-4.37	8,264	23.77	-0.40
	Green	Mark Servian		2,430	7.19	+1.95	3,833	11.02	-0.86
	NZ First	Richard Taurima		1,296	3.83	+1.37	2,481	7.14	+1.77
	Conservative	Katrina Day		991	2.93	+0.61	1,672	4.81	+1.37
	Internet Mana	Ray Calver	(Internet)	217	0.64	+0.64	348	1.00	+0.73[b]
	ACT	Ron Smith		139	0.41	-0.30	250	0.72	-0.31
	United Future	Quentin Todd		72	0.21	+0.21	104	0.30	-0.48
	Democrats	Carolyn McKenzie		70	0.21	+0.04	29	0.08	+0.03
	Māori Party						222	0.64	+0.05
	Legalise Cannabis						110	0.32	-0.07
	Ban 1080						28	0.08	+0.08
	Civilian						23	0.07	+0.07
	Focus						5	0.01	+0.01
	Independent Coalition						3	0.01	+0.01
Informal votes				295			167
Total valid votes				34,097			34,934
	National hold		Majority	10,199	30.17	+4.63

2011 general election: Hamilton East[11]
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 David Bennett		18,505	57.11	-1.47	17,085	51.39	+1.88
	Labour	Sehai Orgad		10,230	31.57	-0.43	8,217	24.17	-6.09
	Green	Nick Marryatt		1,697	5.24	+0.92	3,942	11.88	+4.67
	NZ First	Gordon Stewart		797	2.46	-0.04	1,786	5.37	+2.08
	Conservative	Robyn Jackson		752	2.32	+2.32	1,145	3.44	+3.44
	ACT	Garry Mallett		230	0.71	-0.56	341	1.03	-3.07
	Pirate	Bruce Kingsbury		137	0.42	+0.42
	Democrats	Carolyn McKenzie		54	0.17	+0.17	18	0.05	+0.004
	United Future						260	0.78	-0.57
	Māori Party						195	0.59	-0.37
	Legalise Cannabis						131	0.39	+0.01
	Mana						89	0.27	+0.27
	Libertarianz						25	0.08	+0.01
	Alliance						8	0.02	-0.03
Informal votes				636			317
Total valid votes				32,402			33,249
	National hold		Majority	8,275	25.54	-1.04

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 45,420^[12]

2008 general election: Hamilton East[13]
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 David Bennett		19,441	58.58	+7.46	16,745	49.50	+4.06
	Labour	Sue Moroney		10,621	32.00	-4.79	10,420	30.80	-4.72
	Green	Linda Persson		1,433	4.32	+0.71	2,439	7.21	+1.68
	NZ First	Doug Woolerton		830	2.50	-1.32	1,113	3.29	-2.56
	ACT	Garry Mallett		420	1.27	-0.18	1,387	4.10	+2.16
	Kiwi	Robyn Jackson		180	0.54		189	0.56
	United Future	Rochelle White		168	0.51	-0.97	458	1.35	-2.06
	Democrats	Carolyn McKenzie		54	0.16		17	0.05	+0.01
	RONZ	Jack Gielen		41	0.12		16	0.05	+0.04
	Māori Party						323	0.95	+0.33
	Bill and Ben						243	0.72
	Progressive						190	0.56	-0.36
	Legalise Cannabis						129	0.38	+0.23
	Family Party						90	0.27
	Libertarianz						21	0.06	+0.01
	Alliance						17	0.05	+0.01
	Workers Party						15	0.04
	Pacific						13	0.04
	RAM						2	0.01
Informal votes				236			112
Total valid votes				33,188			33,827
Turnout				34,176	80.48	-2.50
	National hold		Majority	8,820	26.58	+12.25

2005 general election: Hamilton East[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	David Bennett		18,901	51.12	+12.47	17,122	45.44	+21.71
	Labour	N Dianne Yates		13,603	36.79	-3.80	13,377	35.52	-0.11
	NZ First	Doug Woolerton		1,411	3.82	-2.82	2,202	5.85	-4.35
	Green	Daniel Howard		1,334	3.61	-1.45	2,083	5.53	-1.62
	United Future	Adam Archer		547	1.48	-2.00	2,083	5.53	-2.75
	ACT	Garry Mallett		534	1.44	-0.94	732	1.94	-7.83
	Māori Party	Poutawa Biasiny-Tule		309	0.84		234	0.62
	Progressive	Peter Banks		243	0.66		347	0.92
	Independent	Jared Phillips		59	0.16
	Libertarianz	Robin Thomsen		34	0.09		21	0.06
	Destiny						109	0.29
	Legalise Cannabis						56	0.15	-0.34
	Christian Heritage						37	0.10	-1.14
	Alliance						17	0.05	-1.09
	Democrats						15	0.04
	99 MP						12	0.03
	One NZ						8	0.02	-0.03
	Direct Democracy						5	0.01
	Family Rights						3	0.01
	RONZ						2	0.01
Informal votes				292			113
Total valid votes				36,975			37,658
Turnout				38,024	82.98	+4.61
	National gain from Labour		Majority	5,298	14.33	+16.27

2002 general election: Hamilton East[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	%	±%
	Labour	Dianne Yates		12,827	40.59	-1.34	11,369	35.63	+0.20
	National	N Tony Steel		12,213	38.65	-5.41	7,573	23.73	-11.70
	NZ First	Doug Woolerton		2,099	6.64	+3.22	3,256	10.20	+6.26
	Green	Cathy Olsen		1,665	5.27		2,281	7.15	+1.93
	United Future	Richard Carter		1,101	3.48		2,643	8.28	+6.42a
	ACT	Brian George Dawson		751	2.38	+0.12	3,116	9.77	+0.64
	Christian Heritage	Gavin Denby		307	0.97	-1.28	395	1.24	-1.15
	Alliance	Ravaani D K Ghaemmaghamy		177	0.56	-3.54	365	1.14	-6.16
	Progressive	Jim Medland		177	0.56		356	1.12
	ORNZ						255	0.80
	Legalise Cannabis						157	0.49	-0.44
	Mana Māori						18	0.06	+0.02
	One NZ						17	0.05	-0.03
	NMP						2	0.01
Informal votes				284			105
Total valid votes				31,601			31,908
Turnout				32,085	78.37	-7.23
	Labour gain from National		Majority	614	1.94	+4.07

^a United Future swing compared to results of United NZ and Future NZ, as the two merged in 2000.

1999 general election: Hamilton East[16][17]
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 Tony Steel		14,329	44.06		11,620	35.43
	Labour	Dianne Yates		13,637	41.93		10,738	32.74
	Alliance	Peter Jamieson		1,334	4.10		2,394	7.30
	NZ First	Doug Woolerton		1,113	3.42		1,293	3.94
	ACT	Gavin Denby		734	2.26		2,993	9.13
	Christian Heritage	Madeleine Flannagan		732	2.25		783	2.39
	McGillicuddy Serious	Leanee V. Ireland		370	1.14		67	0.21
	Mauri Pacific	Helen Akhtari		179	0.55		35	0.11
	Natural Law	John Cleary		96	0.30		39	0.12
	Green						1,712	5.22
	Christian Democrats						446	1.36
	Legalise Cannabis						304	0.93
	United NZ						163	0.50
	Libertarianz						100	0.30
	Animals First						50	0.15
	One NZ						27	0.08
	Mana Māori						13	0.04
	NMP						6	0.02
	People's Choice						5	0.02
	Freedom Movement						4	0.01
	South Island						3	0.01
	Republican						2	0.01
Informal votes				571			298
Total valid votes				32,524			32,797
Turnout				33,763	85.60
	National hold		Majority	692	2.13

1996 general election: Hamilton East[18][19][20]
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	Tony Steel		14,020	43.19	+6.15	13,029	39.92
	Labour	N Dianne Yates		11,673	35.96	-1.47	8,219	25.18
	NZ First	Doug Woolerton		2,920	8.99		3,604	11.04
	Alliance	Ashok Parbhu		1,684	5.19		2,757	8.45
	Christian Coalition	Lindsay Priest		798	2.46		1,734	5.31
	ACT	Graeme Williams		578	1.78		2,088	6.40
	McGillicuddy Serious	Justine Francis		354	1.09		123	0.38
	Progressive Green	Dianna Tawharu		176	0.54		88	0.27
	Independent	Pat Neagle		129	0.40
	Natural Law	John Cleary		67	0.21		63	0.19
	Superannuitants & Youth	Leslie Stroud		64	0.20		47	0.14
	Legalise Cannabis						430	1.32
	United NZ						279	0.85
	Animals First						63	0.19
	Ethnic Minority Party						31	0.09
	Mana Māori						29	0.09
	Libertarianz						19	0.06
	Green Society						16	0.05
	Conservatives						9	0.03
	Asia Pacific United						5	0.02
	Advance New Zealand						4	0.01
	Te Tawharau						0	0.00
Informal votes				254			80
Total valid votes				32,463			32,637
	National gain from Labour		Majority	2,347	7.23

• McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. p. 266. 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.

• Electorate Profile, New Zealand Parliament