Electoral history of John Key

This is a summary of the electoral history of John Key, Prime Minister of New Zealand (2008–2016), Leader of the National Party (2006–2016), and Member of Parliament for Helensville (2002–2017).

History

Key had first decided to stand for National at the 2002 election in late 2001. He was then working at Merrill Lynch, an investment bank. Key decided to not stand on the list. One of the seats he considered standing in was Tamaki, but National officials convinced him not to stand, as Clem Simich—the Member of Parliament for Tamaki—had a good base in the electorate. Beverley Revell—a registered nurse—was Key's campaign manager. Key eventually chose Helensville to contest, against the unfavourably rated Brian Neeson. Many in National feared that Labour would take over the seat, and Key won the nomination 32–28. He also won the electorate at the 2002 election.^[1]

The 2005 election showed close results heading in with Don Brash as its leader, with Labour winning 48-50 seatwise, while also having large political party support. Brash later revealed in his autobiography that he never intended to spend a full term as prime minister, and would give the position over to Key. Key later deposed Brash from leader position after the 2005 election, in 2006.^[2][3][4]

Parliamentary elections

2002 election

General election, 2002: Helensville[5]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	John Key		9,775	34.18		7,524	25.81
	Labour	Gary Russell		8,070	28.21		8,988	30.83
	Independent	Brian Neeson		5,644	19.73
	NZ First	Dail Jones		2,725	9.53		3,481	11.94
	United Future New Zealand	Andrea Deeth		1,184	4.14		2,416	8.29
	Alliance	Helen MacKinlay		581	2.03		299	1.03
	Christian Heritage	David Simpkin		350	1.22		288	0.99
	Progressive	Clare Dickson		273	0.95		272	0.93
	ACT						3,676	12.61
	Green						1,755	6.02
	ORNZ						313	1.07
	Legalise Cannabis						118	0.40
	One NZ						15	0.05
	Mana Māori						10	0.03
	NMP						2	0.01
Informal votes				327			78
Total valid votes				28,602			29,157
Turnout				29,428	79.64
	National win new seat		Majority	1,705	5.96

2005 election

General election, 2005: Helensville[6][7][8]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y John Key		22,008	64.10	+29.92	19,224	55.09	+29.28
	Labour	Judy Lawley		9,230	26.88	-0.24	9,761	27.97	-2.86
	NZ First	Dail Jones		1,400	4.08	-5.45	2,051	5.88	-6.06
	United Future New Zealand	Andrea Deeth		573	1.67	-2.47	863	2.47	-5.82
	ACT	Stephen Langford-Tebby		389	1.13		821	2.35	-10.26
	Māori Party	Awa Hudson		359	1.05		142	0.41
	Progressive	Julian Aaron		318	0.93	-0.02	218	0.81	-0.08
	Green	Helen Koster		58	0.17		1,407	4.03	-1.99
	Destiny						151	0.43
	Legalise Cannabis						66	0.19	-0.21
	Christian Heritage						48	0.14	-0.85
	Libertarianz						16	0.05
	Direct Democracy						11	0.03
	Alliance						9	0.03	-1.00
	Democrats						8	0.02
	Family Rights						8	0.02
	99 MP						5	0.01
	RONZ						5	0.01
	One NZ						4	0.01	-0.04
Informal votes				253			110
Total valid votes				34,335			34,896
Turnout				35,222	82.85	+3.21
	National hold		Majority	12,778	37.22	+31.26

2008 election

General election, 2008: Helensville[9][6]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y John Key		26,771	73.61	+9.51	23,559	63.69	+8.60
	Labour	Darien Fenton		6,224	17.11	-9.77	6,826	18.45	-9.52
	Green	David Clendon		2,166	5.96	+5.79	1,814	4.90	+0.87
	ACT	David Garrett		811	2.23	+1.10	2,481	6.71	+4.36
	United Future New Zealand	Angela Lovelock		309	0.85	-0.82	289	0.78	-1.69
	Libertarianz	Peter Osborne		89	0.24		21	0.06	+0.01
	NZ First						940	2.54	-3.34
	Progressive						195	0.53	-0.28
	Family Party						182	0.49
	Māori Party						182	0.49	+0.08
	Bill and Ben						170	0.46
	Legalise Cannabis						131	0.35	+0.16
	Kiwi						105	0.28
	Pacific						45	0.12
	Alliance						19	0.05	+0.02
	Workers Party						9	0.02
	Democrats						8	0.02	±0.00
	RAM						8	0.02
	RONZ						4	0.01	±0.00
Informal votes				251			110
Total valid votes				36,370			36,988
Turnout				37,298	82.27	-0.58
	National hold		Majority	20,547	56.49

2011 election

General election, 2011: Helensville [10]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y John Key		26,011	74.38	+0.77	23,558	65.79	+2.09
	Labour	Jeremy Greenbrook-Held		4,945	14.14	-2.97	5,138	14.35	-4.11
	Green	Jeanette Elley		2,575	7.36	+1.41	3,094	8.64	+3.74
	Conservative Party of New Zealand	Richard Drayson		941	2.69	+2.69	1,258	3.51	+3.51
	Legalise Cannabis	Adrian McDermott		319	0.91	+0.91	174	0.49	+0.16
	ACT	Nick Kearney		180	0.51	0-1.72	499	1.39	-5.31
	NZ First						1,648	4.60	+2.06
	Māori Party						186	0.52	+0.03
	United Future New Zealand						163	0.46	-0.33
	Mana						60	0.17	+0.17
	Libertarianz						19	0.05	-0.004
	Democrats						8	0.02	+0.001
	Alliance						4	0.01	-0.04
Informal votes				574			198
Total valid votes				34,971			35,809
	National hold		Majority	21,066	60.24	+3.74

2014 election

General election, 2014: Helensville[11]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	National	Y John Key		22,720	65.17	−9.21	20,689	58.39	−7.40
	Green	Kennedy Graham		4,433	12.72	+5.36	4,801	13.55	+4.91
	Labour	Corie Haddock		4,425	12.69	−1.45	4,430	12.50	−1.85
	Internet	Laila Harré		1,315	3.77	+3.77
	Conservative Party of New Zealand	Deborah Dougherty		963	2.76	−0.07	1,692	4.78	+1.27
	Independent	Penny Bright		420	1.20	+1.20
	ACT	Phelan Pirrie		302	0.87	+0.36	262	0.74	−0.65
	Independent	Brendan Whyte		74	0.21	+0.21
	NZ First						2,608	7.36	+2.76
	Internet Mana						338	0.95	+0.78[a]
	Māori Party						192	0.54	+0.02
	Legalise Cannabis						161	0.45	−0.04
	United Future New Zealand						93	0.26	−0.20
	Ban 1080						48	0.14	+0.14
	Democrats						23	0.06	+0.04
	Independent Coalition						13	0.04	+0.04
	Civilian						8	0.02	+0.02
	Focus						3	0.01	+0.01
Informal votes				208			73
Total valid votes				34,860			35,434
Turnout				35,507	82.29	+5.65
	National hold		Majority	18,287	52.46	−7.78

Notes

1. 2014 Internet Mana swing is relative to the votes for Mana in 2011; it shared a party list with Internet in the 2014 election.

References

1. Bingham, Eugene (26 July 2008). "Ambush in the West". The New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 15 April 2017.
2. "John Key savaged by former National leader Don Brash for achieving 'almost nothing of significance'". stuff.co.nz. 6 December 2016. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
3. "Official Count Results -- Overall Status". Electoral Commission (New Zealand). 1 October 2005. Retrieved 26 May 2017.
4. Tracy Watkins (10 April 2014). "Don Brash bares all". stuff.co.nz. Retrieved 27 May 2017.
5. "Election results 2002". Archived from the original on 27 May 2010. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
6. "Helensville:Electoral Profile". New Zealand Parliament. 26 August 2009. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
7. "Electorate Profile Helensville" (PDF). New Zealand Parliament. 1 November 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 5 October 2009.
8. Election result 2005^{[permanent dead link]}
9. Election results 2008 Archived 11 December 2008 at the Wayback Machine
10. Helensville results, 2011
11. Electoral Commission (10 October 2014). "Official Count Results – Helensville". Retrieved 31 January 2016.