March 5, 2011 11:06pm by David Farrar

More Botany analysis

Total votes dropped from 30,919 in 2008 to 14,888 (+ specials) in 2011.
National/Ross won 17 of the 20 polling places
His best place was Howick, where Ross got over 68%
The worst place was Clover Park where Ross got 4.7% only, and Wood got 90.4%
Ross got over 60% in 10 of the 20 places, and over 50% in 15 of the 20 places
In Meadowlands, Paul Young of New Citizen got his best result with 16.7% – pipping Michael Wood on 15.8% to third place

Incidentially this is the first by-election in at least 30 years where the seat was held by the Government, with no significant decline in the share of the vote.

Taranaki-King Country, Selwyn, Tamaki, Timaru, East Coast Bays, Rangitikei all had the Government come bloody close to losing the seat, or actually losing the seat. The last by-election for a Government-held seat which saw the vote share not change much was probably Pahiatua in 1977.