| Southland | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single-member general constituency for theNew ZealandHouse of Representatives | |||||||
 | |||||||
| Formation | 2020 | ||||||
| Region | Otago andSouthland | ||||||
| Character | Rural | ||||||
| Term | 3 years | ||||||
| Member for Southland | |||||||
.png) Joseph Mooney since17 October 2020 | |||||||
| Party | National | ||||||
| List MPs | Todd Stephenson (ACT) | ||||||
| Previous MP | null | ||||||
| Party vote distribution | |||||||
Southland is an electorate to theNew Zealand House of Representatives. It was first created for the2020 New Zealand general election and has since then been held byJoseph Mooney of theNational Party.
Despite its name, the electorate straddles the border between theSouthland andOtago regions. It is the second-largest general electorate in New Zealand, behindWest Coast-Tasman, and is predominantly rural in nature. The electorate includesGore,Winton,Mataura,Alexandra,Arrowtown,Queenstown andTe Anau (among others), and much ofFiordland National Park.[1] In the 2025 boundary review, the electorate's boundary withInvercargill would be moved east of theŌreti River, transferring away the communities west ofWinton.[2]
The Southland electorate emerged at the 2020 redistribution after theClutha region moved out of the former electorate ofClutha-Southland. It comprised the bulk of Clutha-Southland, plus another area around Alexandra that had been moved in from Waitaki. TheRepresentation Commission initially proposed to move Winton andThe Catlins into Invercargill, but after a public consultation process these areas remained in Southland, which instead shed a large area in West Southland aroundTuatapere.[3][4]
The incumbent from the Clutha-Southland electorate,Hamish Walker, announced in July 2020 that he would not contest the Southland electorate.[5] Later that month, the National Party selectedJoseph Mooney as their candidate for this safe National seat.[6] Mooney was elected by a margin of 5,645 votes over Labour Party candidate Jon Mitchell.[7]
Key National
| Election | Winner | |
|---|---|---|
| 2020 election | Joseph Mooney | |
| 2023 election | ||
Members of Parliament elected from party lists in elections where that person also unsuccessfully contested the Southland electorate. Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections.
| Election | Winner | |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 election | Todd Stephenson | |
| 2023 general election: Southland[8] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notes: | Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. | ||||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Party votes | % | ±% | ||
| National |  YJoseph Mooney | 23,231 | 58.89 | +7.29 | 19,222 | 48.25 | +12.18 | ||
| Labour | Simon McCallum | 6,020 | 15.26 | –21.72 | 6,546 | 16.43 | –22.42 | ||
| Green | Dave Kennedy | 3,860 | 9.78 | +4.29 | 3,482 | 8.74 | +3.60 | ||
| ACT | Todd Stephenson | 2,807 | 7.11 | – | 5,412 | 13.58 | +0.88 | ||
| NZ Loyal | Logan Evans | 2,172 | 5.50 | – | 974 | 2.44 | – | ||
| Legalise Cannabis | Anntwinette Grumball | 687 | 1.74 | – | 217 | 0.54 | +0.16 | ||
| Vision NZ | Naomi Maclean | 228 | 0.57 | – | |||||
| NZ First | 2,258 | 5.66 | +3.65 | ||||||
| Opportunities | 810 | 2.03 | +0.47 | ||||||
| NewZeal | 246 | 0.61 | +0.41 | ||||||
| Te Pāti Māori | 190 | 0.47 | +0.32 | ||||||
| Freedoms NZ | 91 | 0.22 | – | ||||||
| Animal Justice | 65 | 0.16 | – | ||||||
| DemocracyNZ | 60 | 0.15 | – | ||||||
| New Nation | 35 | 0.08 | – | ||||||
| New Conservatives | 32 | 0.08 | –1.41 | ||||||
| Women's Rights | 28 | 0.07 | – | ||||||
| Leighton Baker Party | 20 | 0.05 | – | ||||||
| Informal votes | 437 | 148 | |||||||
| Total valid votes | 39,442 | 39,836 | |||||||
| Nationalhold | Majority | 17,211 | 43.63 | +31.81 | |||||
| 2020 general election: Southland[7] | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notes: | Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. | ||||||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | Party votes | % | ±% | ||
| National | Joseph Mooney | 19,975 | 51.60 | — | 14,244 | 36.07 | — | ||
| Labour | Jon Mitchell | 14,330 | 36.98 | — | 15,341 | 38.85 | — | ||
| Green | David Kennedy | 2,127 | 5.49 | — | 2,085 | 5.14 | — | ||
| Opportunities | Joel Rowlands | 880 | 2.27 | — | 616 | 1.56 | — | ||
| New Conservative | Fiona Meyer | 664 | 1.71 | — | 588 | 1.49 | — | ||
| Advance NZ | Robert Wilson | 508 | 1.31 | — | 373 | 0.94 | — | ||
| Social Credit | Elisabeth Dacker | 139 | 0.36 | — | 39 | 0.09 | — | ||
| ONE | Judith Terrill | 130 | 0.34 | — | 78 | 0.19 | — | ||
| ACT | 5,016 | 12.70 | — | ||||||
| NZ First | 794 | 2.01 | — | ||||||
| Legalise Cannabis | 151 | 0.38 | — | ||||||
| Māori Party | 60 | 0.15 | — | ||||||
| Outdoors | 56 | 0.14 | — | ||||||
| Sustainable NZ | 25 | 0.06 | — | ||||||
| Heartland | 8 | 0.02 | — | ||||||
| Vision NZ | 7 | 0.02 | — | ||||||
| TEA | 6 | 0.02 | — | ||||||
| Informal votes | 679 | 164 | |||||||
| Total valid votes | 39,432 | 39,651 | |||||||
| Turnout | 39,651 | 86.5 | — | ||||||
| Nationalwin new seat | Majority | 5,645 | 14.62 | ||||||
