Christchurch Central - History

History

The Christchurch Central electorate was created in 1946, Labour has won the seat in each election since the electorate's establishment, though a high turnout for the Alliance did see Tim Barnett's 1996 majority come in at under a thousand. The incumbent, Brendon Burns, had a majority in the 2008 election of also just under one thousand.

The first representative was Robert Macfarlane, who had earlier represented the Christchurch South electorate. He held Christchurch Central until the 1969 election, when he retired. He was succeeded by Bruce Barclay, who died in office in 1979. This caused the 18 August 1979 by-election, which was won by Geoffrey Palmer. Palmer would eventually go on to become Prime Minister.

Palmer retired at the 1990 election and was succeeded by Lianne Dalziel. At the 1996 election, i.e. with the advent of MMP, Dalziel did not contest an electorate but stood as a list candidate only. Tim Barnett succeeded her and held the electorate until the 2008 election, when he retired. Brendon Burns succeeded Barnett.

The election night results for the 2011 election resulted in a tie; Burns and Nicky Wagner of the National Party received 10,493 votes each. The outcome of the election thus depended on the special votes. When the final vote count was announce on 10 December Wagner was declared the winner with a majority of 45 over Burns, making the result the second-smallest majority after Waitakere. Due to the closeness of the results a judicial recount was held where Wagner's Majority increased by 2 votes to 47.