Mount Albert (New Zealand electorate)

The 1941 New Zealand census had been postponed due to World War II, so the 1946 electoral redistribution had to take ten years of population growth and movements into account. The North Island gained a further two electorates from the South Island due to faster population growth. The abolition of the country quota through the Electoral Amendment Act, 1945 reduced the number and increased the size of rural electorates. None of the existing electorates remained unchanged, 27 electorates were abolished, eight former electorates were re-established, and 19 electorates were created for the first time, including Mount Albert. Mount Albert covers a segment of the western Auckland isthmus, based around the suburb of Mount Albert and includes Morningside, Kingsland, and Arch Hill on the eastern periphery of the central city down to Owairaka to the south and. Changes brought about by an electoral redistribution after the 2006 census saw a swap of suburbs with neighbouring – Newton on the city fringe being returned to Auckland Central, having been moved out in 1999, and Point Chevalier being drafted in. The 2013/2014 boundary review saw Grey Lynn and Westmere moved into the electorate, while transferring Waterview to the new electorate. No boundary changes were made in the 2020 redistribution. In the 2025 boundary review, the electorate ceded Grey Lynn, Westmere and part of Arch Hill to , and gained Wesley and parts of Sandringham and Mount Roskill from , and part of Balmoral from . The initial proposal had more of Balmoral transferred to the electorate, though this did not go ahead after public consultation. The present incarnation of Mount Albert dates to 1999, when the creation of the Mount Roskill seat necessitated removing the suburbs clustered around the north side of Manukau Harbour from the Owairaka electorate. The name Mount Albert had been out of use for only three years – before Owairaka was drawn up ahead of the change to Mixed Member Proportional voting in 1996, the Mount Albert electorate had been part of the New Zealand electoral landscape for fifty years. ==History==

Mount Albert was first created for the 1946 election. The electorate is known for being contested by three later prime ministers, Robert Muldoon, Helen Clark and Jacinda Ardern. The first representative, Arthur Shapton Richards, died after only one year in office. Warren Freer succeeded him in the , and held the electorate until he retired in 1981. Muldoon (prime minister from 1975 to 1984) unsuccessfully sought the National Party nomination for the electorate in . like all other National candidates before or since. Mount Albert's inner-suburb, working-class composition makes it one of Labour's safest seats. Freer was succeeded by Helen Clark, who held the electorate until 1996, when it was abolished and she moved to the electorate. When the Mount Albert electorate was re-established for the , Clark became the representative again. She was Prime Minister from 1999 to 2008. In 2009, she resigned to become head of the United Nations Development Programme. Clark was succeeded by David Shearer in the 2009 by-election. He was re-elected as MP in the 2011 and 2014 general elections, before resigning in late 2016 to lead the United Nation's peacekeeping mission in South Sudan. Jacinda Ardern, who had previously stood in the Auckland Central electorate, won the February 2017 by-election. She became leader of the Labour Party in August that year, 8 weeks before the 2017 general election, after Andrew Little stepped down as leader. Ardern retained the electorate for the subsequent two elections before not contesting the election. Helen White won the electorate for Labour by a margin of 18 votes, the slimmest of the election. Members of Parliament Key List MPs Members of Parliament elected from party lists in elections where that person also unsuccessfully contested the Mount Albert electorate. Unless otherwise stated, all MPs terms began and ended at general elections. Key ==Election results==

2026 election The next election will be held on 7 November 2026. Candidates for Mount Albert are listed at Candidates in the 2026 New Zealand general election by electorate § Mount Albert. Official results will be available after 27 November 2026. 2023 election 2020 election 2017 election 2017 by-election 2014 election 2011 election Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 45,208 2009 by-election 2008 election 2005 election 2002 election 1999 election 1993 election 1990 election 1987 election 1984 election 1981 election 1978 election 1975 election 1972 election 1969 election 1966 election 1963 election 1960 election 1957 election 1954 election 1951 election 1949 election 1947 by-election 1946 election ==Table footnotes==