Hamilton East (New Zealand electorate)

Hamilton East is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate.

Hamilton East
Single-member constituency for the New Zealand House of Representatives
Location of Hamilton Eastwithin Waikato
Region	Waikato
Area	40.37 km^2 (15.59 sq mi)
Current constituency
Current MP	Ryan Hamilton
Party	National

Population centres

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]

History

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.

Members of Parliament

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

Key

  Labour   National   NZ First

Election	Winner
1972 election		Rufus Rogers
1975 election		Ian Shearer
1978 election
1981 election
1984 election		Bill Dillon
1987 election
1990 election		Tony Steel
1993 election		Dianne Yates
1996 election		Tony Steel
1999 election
2002 election		Dianne Yates
2005 election		David Bennett
2008 election
2011 election
2014 election
2017 election
2020 election		Jamie Strange
2023 election		Ryan Hamilton

List MPs

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.

Election	Winner
1996 election		Doug Woolerton
		Dianne Yates
1999 election		Doug Woolerton
		Dianne Yates
2002 election		Doug Woolerton
2005 election		Doug Woolerton
		Dianne Yates^1
2008 election		Sue Moroney
2017 election		Jamie Strange
2020 election		David Bennett

¹Resigned March 2008, list seat taken by William Sio

Election results

2020 election

2020 general election: Hamilton East^[7]
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 election

2017 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	%	±%
	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 election

2014 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		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^[a]
	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 election

2011 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		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^[11]

2008 election

2008 general election: Hamilton East^[12]
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 election

2005 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	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 election

2002 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	%	±%
	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	+6.42^a
	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 election

1999 general election: Hamilton East^[15]^[16]
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 election

1996 general election: Hamilton East^[17]^[18]^[19]
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

1993 election

1993 general election: Hamilton East^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Dianne Yates	7,677	37.43
	National	Tony Steel	7,597	37.04	-12.09
	Alliance	Paula Singh	2,556	12.46
	NZ First	Rex Widerstrom	1,860	9.07
	Christian Heritage	Tony Randell	494	2.40
	McGillicuddy Serious	Tania Leigh Smeaton	274	1.33
	Natural Law	Alison Clark	48	0.23
Majority			80	0.39
Turnout			20,506	85.07	-0.16
Registered electors			24,104

1990 election

1990 general election: Hamilton East^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Tony Steel	9,717	49.13
	Labour	Bill Dillon	7,596	38.41	-13.69
	NewLabour	Shirley McKay	963	4.86
	McGillicuddy Serious	Graeme Cairns	449	2.27
	Independent	Pat Neagle	329	1.66
	Christian Heritage	Warwick Frank Jones	328	0.65
	Social Credit	Frank Strange	207	1.04
	Democrats	Douglas Lever	110	0.55
	Independent	Huw Evans	76	0.38
Majority			2,121	10.72
Turnout			19,775	85.23	-3.98
Registered electors			23,200

1987 election

1987 general election: Hamilton East^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Dillon	10,397	52.10	+7.50
	National	Sandra Shearer	8,726	43.73
	Democrats	Bill Cooker	478	2.39	-1.06
	McGillicuddy Serious	S Evans	265	1.32
	NZ Party	Pamela Martin	88	0.44
Majority			1,671	8.37	+2.69
Turnout			19,954	89.21	-3.50
Registered electors			22,367

1984 election

1984 general election: Hamilton East^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Dillon	8,633	44.60
	National	Ian Shearer	7,533	38.92	-4.09
	NZ Party	Margaret Evans	2,467	12.74
	Social Credit	Bill Cooker	669	3.45
	McGillicuddy Serious	Patricia Gunn	32	0.16
	Independent	Rex Stone	19	0.09
Majority			1,100	5.68
Turnout			19,353	92.71	+4.84
Registered electors			20,873

1981 election

1981 general election: Hamilton East^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Ian Shearer	8,525	43.01	+0.05
	Labour	Lois Welch	7,337	37.01	+1.05
	Social Credit	Lorna Booth	3,958	19.96	+1.14
Majority			1,188	5.99	-1.01
Turnout			19,820	87.87	-23.07
Registered electors			22,556

1978 election

1978 general election: Hamilton East^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Ian Shearer	8,352	42.96	-6.23
	Labour	Lois Welch	6,991	35.96
	Social Credit	Lorna Booth	3,659	18.82
	Values	Rachel Elizabeth Stevenson	399	2.05
	Independent	Peter James Osborne	38	0.19
Majority			1,361	7.00	-4.04
Turnout			19,439	64.80	-17.56
Registered electors			29,994

1975 election

1975 general election: Hamilton East^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Ian Shearer	10,001	49.19
	Labour	Rufus Rogers	7,765	38.19	-8.63
	Social Credit	Charles Wilmot-Stilwell	1,754	8.62	+1.92
	Values	Nick Mulligan	783	3.85
	Socialist Unity	Joan Mary Jones	17	0.08
Majority			2,246	11.04
Turnout			20,330	82.36	-6.90
Registered electors			24,684

1972 election

1972 general election: Hamilton East^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rufus Rogers	7,872	46.82
	National	Ross Jansen	7,475	44.46
	Social Credit	Charles Wilmot-Stilwell	1,128	6.70
	Values	Peter Francis Cuttance	213	1.26
	Independent	Henry Brian Bishop	64	0.38
	New Democratic	Allan Stanley Lewin	42	0.24
	Liberal Reform	Allan Robert Wells	18	0.10
Majority			397	2.36
Turnout			16,812	89.26
Registered electors			18,833

Footnotes

1. 2014 Internet Mana swing is relative to the votes for Mana in 2011; it shared a party list with Internet in the 2014 election.

Notes

1. McRobie 1989, p. 111.
2. McRobie 1989, p. 115.
3. McRobie 1989, pp. 112, 116.
4. McRobie 1989, pp. 111, 115.
5. McRobie 1989, pp. 83, 110, 114.
6. "Hamilton East" (PDF). Parliamentary Library. March 2008. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
7. "Hamilton East – Official Result". Electoral Commission. 6 November 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
8. "Official Count Results – Hamilton East (2017)". Electoral Commission. 7 October 2017. Retrieved 12 October 2017.
9. "Official Count Results – Hamilton East". Electoral Commission. 10 October 2014. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
10. Hamilton East results, 2011
11. . Electoral Commission. 26 November 2011. Archived from the original on 10 November 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2011.
12. . Archived from the original on 11 December 2008. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
13. Official Count Results – Hamilton East
14. Official Count Results – Hamilton East
15. "Official Count Results (1999) – Electoral Votes for registered parties by electorate". NZ Electoral Commission. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
16. "Official Count Results (1999) – Candidate Vote Details". NZ Electoral Commission. Retrieved 23 September 2017.
17. "Electorate Candidate and Party Votes Recorded at Each Polling Place – Hamilton East, 1996" (PDF). Retrieved 13 July 2013.
18. (PDF). Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
19. (PDF). Electoral Commission. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2013.
20. Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1993. p. 32.
21. Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1990. p. 36.
22. Norton 1988, p. 234.

References

• 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.

External links

• Electorate Profile, New Zealand Parliament