| West Coast-Tasman | |
| Parl Name: | New Zealand House of Representatives |
| Map2: | West Coast-Tasman electorate, 2014 |
| Map Entity: | West Coast-Tasman |
| Map Year: | 2014 |
| Area: | 32757.87km2 |
| Year: | 1996 |
| Type: | Single-member |
| Blank1 Name: | Current MP |
| Blank1 Info: | Maureen Pugh |
| Blank2 Name: | Party |
| Blank2 Info: | National |
| Blank3 Name: | List MPs |
| Blank3 Info: | Damien O'Connor (Labour) |
| Region: | Tasman and West Coast |
West Coast-Tasman is a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, currently held by Maureen Pugh of the New Zealand National Party as of the 2023 general election. West Coast-Tasman is the largest general electorate in the entire country, with an area larger than the entirety of Belgium.[1] It comprises the entirety of Te Tai Poutini and the Tasman District, as well as Brightwater in suburban Nelson.
Historically it has often been regarded as one of the safest New Zealand Labour Party seats in the entire country.[2] [3] From its creation for the until 2023, it was held by Damien O'Connor of the Labour Party, with the exception of one parliamentary term under National's Chris Auchinvole (between 2008 and 2011). Pugh's narrow victory in 2023 (915 votes) was considered a major upset, with the third-place independent candidacy of Patrick Phelps splitting the vote in her favour.[4] [5]
West Coast-Tasman is the largest general electorate in New Zealand, covering 32758km2.[6] It is one of the longest. The Representation Commission last adjusted the boundaries in the 2007 review, which first applied at the, when the northern boundary moved closer to Nelson, and Wakefield, Foxhill and Belgrove were added.[7] The electorate was not changed in the 2013/14 review.[8] Brightwater was added from at the 2020 redistribution.[9]
The electorate includes the following population centres:
The electorate was formed in 1996 for the mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting system by combining the former Tasman and West Coast electorates.
Damien O'Connor was the first representative and he held the electorate until the 2008 general election, when he was beaten by National candidate Chris Auchinvole, who had previously been a list MP. Auchinvole's majority was 971.[10] His position on the Labour Party list meant that O'Connor couldn't return to Parliament immediately. When the list MP Michael Cullen retired in May 2009, O'Connor regained his position as Member of the House of Representatives because he was the highest-ranked candidate on the list not already an MP.[11] In contrast to the overall trend, he regained the electorate in the .[12]
Auchinvole retired from politics at the end of the 2011–2014 parliamentary term, and former Mayor of Westland District, Maureen Pugh, gained the nomination for the National Party.[13] [14] O'Connor was once again successful. Based on preliminary results for the, Pugh was the lowest-ranked National Party list member who was returned to Parliament,[15] [16] but when the final results were released two weeks later, National had lost one list seat and Pugh did not get returned to Parliament.[17]
West Coast-Tasman has been represented by two electorate MPs so far:
Key
| width=100 | Election | width=175 colspan=2 | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damien O'Connor | ||||
| bgcolor= | Chris Auchinvole | |||
| Damien O'Connor | ||||
| bgcolor= | Maureen Pugh |
Members of Parliament elected from party lists in elections where that person also unsuccessfully contested the West Coast-Tasman electorate. Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections.
| width=100 | Election | width=175 colspan=2 | Winner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor= | Owen Jennings | |||
| bgcolor= | Chris Auchinvole | |||
| bgcolor= | Kevin Hague | |||
| 2009 | bgcolor= | Damien O'Connor1 | ||
| bgcolor= | Chris Auchinvole | |||
| bgcolor= | Kevin Hague | |||
| bgcolor= | Kevin Hague2 | |||
| 2016 | bgcolor= | Maureen Pugh3 | ||
| 2018 | bgcolor= | Maureen Pugh4 | ||
| bgcolor= | Maureen Pugh | |||
| bgcolor= | Damien O'Connor |
Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 44,556[18]
Refer to Candidates in the New Zealand general election 1999 by electorate#West Coast-Tasman for a list of candidates.