TheFirst Labour Government was defeated in the1949 election and the incomingNational Government changed the Electoral Act, with the electoral quota once again based on total population as opposed to qualified electors, and the tolerance was increased to 7.5% of the electoral quota. There was no adjustments in the number of electorates between theSouth andNorth Islands, but the law changes resulted in boundary adjustments to almost every electorate through the 1952 electoral redistribution; only five electorates were unaltered.[1] Five electorates were reconstituted and the Heretaunga electorate was newly created, and a corresponding six electorates were abolished; all of these in the North Island.[2] These changes took effect with the1954 election.[3]
Up to1990 whenPeter McCardle won the seat for National, the Labour Party held Heretaunga. In1993, McCardle narrowly held the seat against a challenge fromLabour candidateHeather Simpson (who went on to becomeHelen Clark's Chief of Staff, known as H2 – Clark was H1[6]). Subsequently, McCardle left the National Party in 1996 and joinedNew Zealand First.
^"Large Majority for Labour".Upper Hutt Leader. Vol. XI, no. 48. 18 November 1954. p. 2.Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved13 November 2014.
^Young, Audrey (29 January 2017)."Helen and Heather's great political partnership could be entering the twilight zone".The New Zealand Herald.Archived from the original on 9 September 2017. Retrieved9 September 2017.Simpson then became director of policy and research for the parliamentary Labour Party before her elevation to chief of staff when she became Clark's 'enforcer' in the various political crises and scandals that arose as well as policy overseer. [...] She earned the nickname H2, as the second-most powerful woman in New Zealand, next to Helen Clark, H1.
^Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1993.
^Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1990. pp. 41–2.
McRobie, Alan (1989).Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books.ISBN0-477-01384-8.
Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913].New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer.OCLC154283103.
Norton, Clifford (1988).New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington.ISBN0-475-11200-8.
