October 06, 2013
Extra seat from census count not Maori
The number of Maori seats in parliament will stay at seven but there will be one extra general electorate as a result of this year’s census.
Statistics New Zealand says there were 4,242,048 people living in New Zealand on census night, which was just over 214,000 more than at the last census seven years ago.
Since the number of South Island seats is fixed at 16, that means there will be another North Island electorate added.
The number of people switching to the Maori roll during this year’s option was not enough to trigger an extra seat, and the Maori electoral population stands at 420,990.
The number of list seats in the 120 seat parliament will go down by one.
The Representation Commission will now sit to decide on the boundaries for the new seat.
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