Electorates

Aoraki – Jo Goodhew has taken a 6,500 majority to Sutton and not only wiped it out, but turned it into an even bigger one for herself. This is a massacre. Well done the Goodhews.

Bay of Plenty – Ryall takes his 5,600 majority and more than doubles it to 12,600. Very nice work.

Clevedon – Judith Collins has gone from 3,100 to 11,700. Reflects the fact she is one of the most effective new MPs.

Clutha-Southland – Bill doubles his majority also. No surprise.

Coromandel – Sandra Goudie has taken the former Green seat and made a 10,000 majority for herself.

East Coast – a great result for Anne Tolley who has overcme a 5,300 majority for Janet Mackey to get a 1,300 one for Tolley over daughter Moana Mackey. Glad to see Moana has made it back on the list though – she is a thorougly nice person with a great future in politics.

East Coast Bays – the left were claiming they would knock McCully out. To be fair Murray always claims the seat is on a knife egde, but his 6,800 majority speaks for itself.

Epsom – A tough time for Richard Worth who lost his seat as people voted tactically. A 3,200 majority for Rodney must be beyond his best hopes, and he is understandably delighted. Once the voters have forgiven Rodney for the sight of a naked Keith Locke, his job is to lift the party vote for ACT now they are guaranteed not to be wasted votes in future. Also he needs to have a purge of a few people in the party!

Hamilton East – the thoroughly nice David Bennett has beaten the not at all nice Di Yates by 5,200 – huge.

Hamilton West – bad luck to Tim Macindoe who missed out by 688 votes.

Helensville – no surprise that John Key now has an 11,800 majority – reflecting his stature. Shit, if he lived in the electorate it might be 16,000 🙂

Invercargill – nice to have Eric Roy back with a 1,900 majority. Harpur proved a good candidate to keep it that cloase.

Kaikoura – Colin King held off the PM’s propoganda man Brendan Burns by 4,000 votes. Pretty safe.

Napier – Chris Tremain has run a terrific campaign to grab Napier by 3,500 votes. It is very very rare for National to hold Napier.

Nelson – Nick Smith is back to his normal 10,000 majority

New Plymouth – good effort from Moira Irving to take Harry D from 15,000 to a 5,000 majority. Perhaps people don’t like MPs who get their mates to pass a special law to re-elect him to Parliament without an election.

Northcote – now everything north of Auckland Harbour is blue. Jonathan Coleman gets a respectable 2,500 or so majority against a former Mayor.

Otago – a close result with a 1,900 majority to Jacqui Dean.

Otaki – an amazing result. Darren Hughes has had his 7,700 majority reduced to 226 and he could lose it on specials. Nathan Guy is widely regarded as having run a brilliant campaign and even if he does not win it this time, he is well set up to take it in 2008 (depending on boundary changes). If Darren wants to spend his life in Parliament as he told Salient, he needs to move to Palmerston North 🙂

Piako – Lindsay Tishc turns a small 1,600 majority into a large 7,800 one.

Rangitikei – Simon Power keeps increasing the majority in the seat he initially won by 100 votes or so. Now at 9,000 and growing.

Rotorua – Steve Chadwick is down to a 532 majority. Should retain on specials, but a fright.

Tauranga – Clarkson wins by 568. Hard to see it losing on specials, but you will be closely watched. The key thing is will Winston go for an electoral petition on spending or cut his losses and concentrate on keeping his party over 5%.

Tukituki – Craig Foss has a hugely deserved victory over Rick Barker and wins by 2,300. A great guy who will do well in Parliament.

Wairarapa – Labour must be regretting not selecting Bob Francis. A grateful John Hayes beats Denise McKenzie by 2,500. Now the entire East Coast from Aucland to Wellington is blue.

Wellington Central – National got thrashed in both the party and electorate vote. It may be the worst result for a seat, compared to 2002, for National. And no it is not at all a nice feeling. We’ll have a look at what were the factors we could control, what were the factors we couldn’t control, and I am sure will be aiming for a much improved vote in 2008 (or earlier if Govt falls apart). The nice thing is Mark is there as a List MP and I am confident his natural personality and skills will shine as an MP.

West Coast-Tasman. O’Connor holds on by 1,900 but Labour loses the party vote there.

Whanganui – third time lucky for hard working Chester Borrows. You’d have to travel a long way to find a nicer more decent guy. He will love being the local MP.

Maori Seats – As predicted four for Maori Party with Sharples having a 1,700 majority over Tamihere who is out of Parliament. The others are back on the list.