One new electorate but Maori seats stay same

Electoral boundaries are in for a shake-up after a decision to add another electorate to the North Island.

Statistics New Zealand today announced there would be one new general electoral district but no increase in the number of Maori seats in Parliament.

This will disappoint the Maori Party which had campaigned to get more people signed up to the Maori electoral roll in the hope of creating an eighth seat. Maori seat numbers are based on the roll and results of the last census.

The addition of another general electoral seat means the number of list seats will be reduced by one. This is because the Electoral Act sets the number of seats at 120 except when there is an overhang - caused when a party wins more electorate support than its portion of party vote.

There will be 63 general seats, 47 of those in the North Island and 16 in the South - the latter figure is also set by law - plus the seven Maori seats and 50 list seats.

It will be up to the Representation Commission to set the electoral boundaries and name the new district.

The shake-up will affect many electorates.

Government Statistician Brian Pink said changing the borders was going to be a challenge.

"There are so many seats that it would seem are going to need to adjusted - how that plays out across either of the islands is yet to be determined and that's the challenge that's ahead for the Representation Commission."

Census 2006 general manager Nancy McBeth said that between 2001 and 2006 was the period of largest population growth between a census for 30 years.

"As a consequence there will be a lot more adjustments to the seats than there was following the last census. You would therefore expect that this will result in a much larger number of seats that will have to have their boundaries adjusted."

There are many seats that have more or less than the quota of 57,243 people per electorate.

- NZPA