Summarised by Centrist
One of the North Island’s 49 electorates will be scrapped for the 2026 general election, reducing the total to 48. Stats NZ confirmed the removal, but which electorate will go is still unknown.
While the North Island’s population has grown, the South Island’s population has grown faster, which led to this change.
The number of South Island electorates is fixed at 16 by law, but the North Island’s seats depend on population changes. The 2023 Census showed the South Island’s population increased by 7%, outpacing the North’s 5.5% growth. This led to the need for redrawing electoral boundaries to balance populations.
Each electorate must have a population within 5% of the ideal size, calculated first for the South Island.
The target size (known as ‘the quota’) is 70,037 people per electorate. In the North Island, the same calculation results in 48 seats, with a population target of 69,875.
As a result of this calculation, one general electorate will be removed, and boundaries adjusted accordingly.
Māori electorates, which remain at seven, are also affected. Ikaroa-Rāwhiti, for example, will have its boundaries redrawn to fit within the allowed population range.
