Nelson

Nelson is a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. From 1853 to 1860, the electorate was called Town of Nelson. From 1860 to 1881, it was City of Nelson. The electorate is the only one that has continuously existed since the 1st Parliament in 1853. The current MP for Nelson is Nick Smith of the National Party. He has held this position since 1996. Nelson is based around the city of Nelson, with the dormitory town of Richmond and the smaller communities of Hope and Brightwater drafted in to bring the electorate up to the required population quota. The current boundaries were fixed in 1996 ahead of the change to Mixed Member Proportional voting; the decrease in...