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Labor won the party vote in all South Island voters, which is the first time this has happened since the MMP voting system was adopted for the 1996 General Election.
Here’s a breakdown of the party vote numbers:
- Nelson: Labor 20,564 – National 8418
- West Coast Tasman: Workforce 17,859 – National 9974
- Kaikoura: Workforce 16,561 – National 11,538
- Watermelon: Labor 20,222 – National 11,720
- Christchurch East: Labor 20,302 National 5779
- Ilam: Labor 15,875 National 11,011
- Christchurch Central: Workforce 17,467 National 6648
- Banks Peninsula: Workforce 21,302 National 9166
- Selwyn: Workforce 15,293 National 12,908
- Wigram: Workforce 17,653 National 7033
- Rangitata: Workforce 18,531 National 12,244
- Waitaki: Workforce 17,058 National 12,330
- Dunedin: Workforce 21,625 Green 7001 National 5514
- Taieri: Labor 23,210 National 8505
- Southland: Workforce 13,359 National 12,777
- Invercargill: Workforce 17,050 National 10,873
- South: Labor 13,056 Green 2597 Maori 1838
The closest the National Party came to winning the party’s vote in the South was in the Southland electorate by a margin of 582 votes. Labor claimed 38.5% of the party’s votes, while Nacional won 36.8%.
The electorates in the South Island where the Labor Party won its most emphatic victories were those of Christchurch East (59.7% of the votes) and those of Taieri (58.8% of the votes).
The National Party fell behind by 14,705 votes in the Taieri electorate, while it was 16,111 votes behind Labor in the Dunedin electorate.
The Green Party had a historic gain in the Dunedin electorate (17.9%), where it surpassed National (14.1%) for the first time since the MMP began, to claim second place in the party’s vote. behind Labor (55.2%).
While the Dunedin electorate is new this year, in the previous Dunedin North electorate, the National Party never ranked below second in the party’s vote.
Last night, Taieri Green candidate Scott Willis said he was “satisfied” with the result that they were outperforming the party vote in Dunedin and Taieri compared to the last election.
“We look like a really strong result from the South.”
Nationally, the only constituencies in which National led the party’s vote were Taranaki-King Country, Waikato, Epsom, and Tāmaki.
Labor even leads the party’s vote in Judith Collins’ own electorate in Papakura by a margin of 434 votes.
Despite not leading the party vote, the National Party managed to win the electoral seats of Invercargill, Southland, Waitaki, Selwyn, Kaikōura and Waimakariri in the South Island.
Last night Taieri’s new electorate MP Ingrid Leary said that even though the area was “staunch Labor”, they still faced the challenges of a new candidate and the change of name and boundaries of the electorate.
Dunedin National Party roster MP Michael Woodhouse said yesterday that he was saddened by the party as they would not have the same power of representation in Parliament.
Dunedin MP David Clark said it was very encouraging and that it was a privilege to have the trust of the people in his constituency.
National’s Taieri candidate, Liam Kernaghan, said he was dedicated to the south and would be looking to spend the next three years here and have “a good chance again.”
Dunedin Green candidate Jack Brasil said it was exciting to have a left-wing progressive MP walking in.
