Ōhāriu (electorate) – Wikipedia

Electoral district in Wellington, New Zealand

Ōhāriu, previously spelled Ohariu and then Ōhariu, is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate returning one Member of Parliament to the House of Representatives. It first existed from 1978 to 1993, and was recreated for the 2008 election. In 2008, it was the successor to Ohariu-Belmont, first contested at the first mixed-member proportional (MMP) election in 1996. Through its existence Ohariu-Belmont was represented by Peter Dunne, leader of the United Future party. Dunne contested and won the recreated electorate in 2008. He announced on 21 August 2017 that he would not stand in the 2017 general election.

The 1977 electoral redistribution was the most overtly political since the Representation Commission had been established through an amendment to the Representation Act in 1886, initiated by Muldoon‘s National Government. As part of the 1976 census, a large number of people failed to fill in an electoral re-registration card, and census staff had not been given the authority to insist on the card being completed. This had little practical effect for people on the general roll, but it transferred Māori to the general roll if the card was not handed in. Together with a northward shift of New Zealand’s population, this resulted in five new electorates having to be created in the upper part of the North Island. The electoral redistribution was very disruptive, and 22 electorates were abolished, while 27 electorates were newly created (including Ohariu) or re-established. These changes came into effect for the 1978 election.

The Ohariu electorate replaced the Karori electorate, but did not include any of Khandallah or Ngaio.

In 2008, the boundaries of the Ohariu-Belmont and Ōhariu electorates were near identical except for the removal of the eponymous Lower Hutt suburb of Belmont into the Rimutaka electorate and the addition of Crofton Downs from Wellington Central. The new electorate contained the section of Wellington City between Crofton Downs and southern Tawa, including Ngaio, Khandallah, Johnsonville and Newlands. The rest of the electorate consisted of Lower Hutt’s hill suburbs of Korokoro, Maungaraki and Normandale. Ōhariu was one of eleven electorate names to include a macron, for the first time. The name was later changed to include a second macron.

Both Ohariu-Belmont and Ōhāriu are young and wealthy; it has the largest number of 30- to 49-year-olds in the country, and the second highest number of families earning between $70,000 and $100,000 per year. 69% of its population is New Zealand European, 14% Asian and 8% Māori.^[5]

Despite Dunne having a 7,702 vote majority in Ohariu-Belmont at the 2005 election,^[6] United Future’s performance was less impressive. In 2005 it won just 5.6% of the party vote (down from 13.0% in 2002) in an electorate dominated by the big two parties: National came out on top in the party vote with 43.1%, beating Labour by 3.6%, having been reduced to 24.4% three years earlier.^[7]

Historically Ohariu (without macrons) was an electorate based around north and western Wellington, contested between 1978 and 1990. A substantial redrawing of Wellington’s boundaries ahead of the final first-past-the-post election in 1993 led to Ohariu being divided between Wellington-Karori and the new electorate of Onslow. Dunne, then a member of the Labour Party, was the MP for the old Ohariu between 1984 until its abolition, and won Onslow in 1993.

The electorate would be discontinued for the 2026 general election to accommodate the loss of one North Island electorate, with its population centers being divided between Kenepuru, Wellington North and Hutt South.^[8]

Key

  National
  Labour
  United Future
  Green

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

2023 general election: Ōhāriu[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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Greg O’Connor		17,565	41.15	-11.40	12,457	28.95	-21.87
	National	Nicola Willis		16,305	38.20	+13.05	14,841	34.49	+12.29
	Green	Stephanie Rodgers		4,412	10.33	+5.24	8,623	20.04	+6.49
	Opportunities	Jessica Hammond		2,975	6.97	-3.21	1,882	4.37	+1.58
	ACT	Paul Day		759	1.77	-0.08	2,524	5.86	-0.21
	Vision New Zealand	Patrick Lim		214	0.50
	Independent	Martin Jenkins		124	0.29
	NZ First						1,442	3.35	+1.47
	Te Pāti Māori						519	1.20	+0.85
	NewZeal						119	0.27	+0.27
	Legalise Cannabis						114	0.26	+0.08
	NZ Loyal						112	0.26	+0.26
	New Conservative						65	0.15	-0.71
	Animal Justice						62	0.14	+0.14
	Freedoms NZ						58	0.13	+0.13
	Women’s Rights						31	0.07	+0.07
	DemocracyNZ						25	0.05	+0.05
	Leighton Baker Party						12	0.02	+0.02
	New Nation						11	0.02	+0.02
Informal votes				324			121
Total valid votes				42,678			43,018
Turnout
	Labour hold		Majority	1,260	2.95

2020 general election: Ōhāriu[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	%	±%
	Labour	Y Greg O’Connor		22,937	52.55	+9.58	22,282	50.82	+15.38
	National	Brett Hudson		10,976	25.15	−15.18	9,732	22.20	−23.08
	Opportunities	Jessica Hammond		4,443	10.18	+2.89	1,221	2.79	−1.37
	Green	John Ranta		2,221	5.09	−1.25	5,940	13.55	+3.94
	NZ First	Tracey Martin		928	2.13	+0.24	824	1.88	−1.84
	ACT	Sean Fitzpatrick		809	1.85	+1.38	2,662	6.07	+5.48
	New Conservative	Philip Lynch		357	0.82	—	375	0.86	+0.68
	ONE	Allan Cawood		197	0.45	—	143	0.33	—
	Advance NZ	Jolene Smith		133	0.30	—	149	0.34	—
	Not A Party	Liam Walsh		49	0.11	—
	Māori Party						153	0.35	−0.11
	Legalise Cannabis						80	0.18	+0.01
	Sustainable NZ						19	0.04	—
	Vision New Zealand						17	0.04	—
	Outdoors						15	0.03	—
	TEA						12	0.03	—
	Social Credit						8	0.02	±0.00
	Heartland						1	0.002	—
Informal votes				596			209
Total valid votes				43,646			43,842
Turnout				43,989	87.73	+1.64
	Labour hold		Majority	11,961	27.40	+24.76

2014 general election: Ōhāriu[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	%	±%
	United Future	Y Peter Dunne		13,569	36.58	−2.00	273	0.73	−1.05
	Labour	Ginny Andersen		12,859	34.66	−0.18	8,771	23.42	−3.11
	National	Brett Hudson		6,120	16.50	−2.06	18,810	50.23	+0.63
	Green	Tane Woodley		2,764	7.45	+1.65	5,623	15.01	+0.59
	Conservative	Michael Brunner		1,038	2.80	+1.78	1,118	2.99	+1.31
	Independent	Sue Hamill		211	0.57	+0.57
	ACT	Sean Fitzpatrick		209	0.56	+0.56	250	0.67	−0.09
	Democrats	Alida Steemson		46	0.12	+0.12	22	0.06	+0.03
	NZ First						1,781	4.76	+0.85
	Internet Mana						258	0.69	+0.50[f]
	Māori Party						215	0.57	+0.04
	Legalise Cannabis						146	0.39	−0.03
	Civilian						29	0.08	+0.08
	Ban 1080						15	0.04	+0.04
	Independent Coalition						9	0.02	+0.02
	Focus						4	0.01	+0.01
Informal votes				283			126
Total valid votes				37,099			37,450
	United Future hold		Majority	710	1.91	−1.83

2011 general election: Ōhāriu[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	%	±%
	United Future	Y Peter Dunne		14,357	38.58	+5.97	672	1.78	-0.43
	Labour	Charles Chauvel		12,965	34.84	+4.89	10,036	26.53	-6.80
	National	Katrina Shanks		6,907	18.56	-7.97	18,764	49.60	+3.33
	Green	Gareth Hughes		2,160	5.80	-1.26	5,453	14.42	+5.28
	Conservative	Stephen Woodnutt		378	1.02	+1.02	636	1.68	+1.68
	NZ First	Hugh Barr		339	0.91	+0.91	1,478	3.91	+1.82
	Libertarianz	Sean Fitzpatrick		109	0.29	+0.29	47	0.12	+0.07
	ACT						286	0.76	-2.66
	Māori Party						201	0.53	-0.20
	Legalise Cannabis						160	0.42	+0.11
	Mana						73	0.19	+0.19
	Alliance						12	0.03	-0.11
	Democrats						10	0.03	+0.003
Informal votes				369			137
Total valid votes				37,215			37,828
	United Future hold		Majority	1,392	3.74	+1.07

Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 46,740^[14]

2008 general election: Ōhariu[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	%	±%
	United Future	Y Peter Dunne		12,303	32.61		843	2.21
	Labour	Charles Chauvel		11,297	29.95		12,728	33.33
	National	Katrina Shanks		10,009	26.53		17,670	46.27
	Green	Gareth Hughes		2,665	7.06		3,488	9.13
	Kiwi	Joel Sison		522	1.38		283	0.74
	ACT	Colin du Plessis		487	1.29		1,304	3.41
	Legalise Cannabis	Danyl Strype		330	0.87		119	0.31
	Alliance	Kelly Buchanan		111	0.29		55	0.14
	NZ First						798	2.09
	Māori Party						278	0.73
	Progressive						273	0.71
	Bill and Ben						208	0.54
	Family Party						65	0.17
	Pacific						22	0.06
	Libertarianz						20	0.05
	Workers Party						11	0.03
	Democrats						9	0.02
	RAM						7	0.02
	RONZ						7	0.02
Informal votes				242			88
Total valid votes				37,724			38,188
	United Future win new seat		Majority	1,006	2.67

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

41°13′S 174°49′E / 41.21°S 174.81°E / -41.21; 174.81