Port Hills is a new electorate

New Zealand electorates

An electorate is a voting district for elections to the Parliament of New Zealand. In informal discussion, electorates are often called seats. The most formal description, electoral district, is rarely seen outside of electoral legislation. Before 1996, all Members of Parliament were directly...

 of New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 created for the 2008 general election

New Zealand general election, 2008

The 2008 New Zealand general election was held on 8 November 2008 to determine the composition of the 49th New Zealand parliament. The conservative National Party, headed by its Parliamentary leader John Key, won a plurality of votes and seats, ending 9 years of government dominated by the social...

. It largely replaces the Banks Peninsula electorate

Banks Peninsula (New Zealand electorate)

Banks Peninsula was a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate from 1996 to 2008.It was held by Ruth Dyson MP from 1999 to 2008.-Population centres:The electorate included the following population centres:* Opawa* Cashmere* Halswell* Lyttelton* Akaroa...

, held by Ruth Dyson

Ruth Dyson

Ruth Suzanne Dyson is a New Zealand politician. She is a member of the Labour Party and has been a Member of Parliament since 1993.-Early years:...

. The new electorate is wholly urban, and has lost the rural Peninsula areas of the old electorate to newly formed Selwyn

Selwyn (New Zealand electorate)

Selwyn is the name of three seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives, based around towns on the outskirts of Christchurch city. In an historical sense, the name refers to an electorate that existed between 1866 and 1919...

.

Population centres

Port Hills was created after a review of electoral boundaries conducted in the wake of the 2006 census of population and dwellings. The bulk of Port Hills comes from the old Banks Peninsula

Banks Peninsula (New Zealand electorate)

Banks Peninsula was a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate from 1996 to 2008.It was held by Ruth Dyson MP from 1999 to 2008.-Population centres:The electorate included the following population centres:* Opawa* Cashmere* Halswell* Lyttelton* Akaroa...

 electorate, including the suburbs of Opawa

Opawa

Opawa is an inner suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, located 2.5 kilometres south-east of the city centre.The name is a contraction of Opaawaho, which means a place of an outer pā or outpost in Māori. Opaawaho or Ōpāwaho is the Māori name for the Heathcote River....

 and Woolston

Woolston, New Zealand

Woolston is a light industrial and residential suburb of Christchurch in the South Island of New Zealand. It is situated three kilometres southeast of the city centre, close to major arterial routes including State Highways 73 and 74 to Banks Peninsula...

, the suburban areas around the Cashmere

Cashmere, New Zealand

The suburb of Cashmere rises above the southern end of the city of Christchurch in New Zealand’s South Island.-Geography:Cashmere is situated on the north side of the Port Hills, immediately above the southern terminus of Christchurch’s main street, Colombo Street...

 Hills, and the towns on the north coast of Lyttelton Harbour

Lyttelton, New Zealand

Lyttelton is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour close to Banks Peninsula, a suburb of Christchurch on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand....

. The south Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

 suburbs of Bromley and Sydenham

Sydenham, New Zealand

Sydenham is an inner suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand, located two kilometres south of the city centre, on and around the city’s main street, Colombo Street...

 have been added from Christchurch East

Christchurch East

Christchurch East is a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate. It is currently held by Lianne Dalziel of the Labour Party.-History:The electorate was first created, as Christchurch City East, for the...

 and Wigram

Wigram (New Zealand electorate)

Wigram is a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The current MP for Wigram is Megan Woods. She takes over this position from the retiring Jim Anderton, who held this position from 1996 until 2011.-Population...

, respectively.

History

Because the new suburbs are strong Labour-voting areas, Banks Peninsula

Banks Peninsula (New Zealand electorate)

Banks Peninsula was a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate from 1996 to 2008.It was held by Ruth Dyson MP from 1999 to 2008.-Population centres:The electorate included the following population centres:* Opawa* Cashmere* Halswell* Lyttelton* Akaroa...

 MP Ruth Dyson

Ruth Dyson

Ruth Suzanne Dyson is a New Zealand politician. She is a member of the Labour Party and has been a Member of Parliament since 1993.-Early years:...

 retained the electorate despite a nationwide swing to the National Party

New Zealand National Party

The New Zealand National Party is the largest party in the New Zealand House of Representatives and in November 2008 formed a minority government with support from three minor parties.-Policies:...

 in 2008. This is also one of the electorates which elected a Labour MP but where the National Party won the party vote.

Members of Parliament for Port Hills

Key

Election	Winner
		Ruth Dyson Ruth Dyson Ruth Suzanne Dyson is a New Zealand politician. She is a member of the Labour Party and has been a Member of Parliament since 1993.-Early years:...

Candidates in the

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Electorate (as at 11 November 2011): 43,027

2008 election

External links

• Port Hills Pulse website Labour party electorate website.
• Electorate Map from Elections NZ