title: Rangiriri (New Zealand electorate)
text: # Rangiriri (New Zealand electorate)
  
  Rangiriri was a rural New Zealand parliamentary electorate in the Auckland Region from 1978 to 1984.
  
  ## Population centres
  
  The 1977 electoral redistribution was the most overtly political since the Representation Commission had been established through an amendment to the Representation Act in 1886, initiated by Muldoon's National Government. As part of the 1976 census, a large number of people failed to fill out an electoral re-registration card, and census staff had not been given the authority to insist on the card being completed. This had little practical effect for people on the general roll, but it transferred Māori to the general roll if the card was not handed in. Together with a northward shift of New Zealand's population, this resulted in five new electorates having to be created in the upper part of the North Island. The electoral redistribution was very disruptive, and 22 electorates were abolished, while 27 electorates were newly created (including Rangiriri) or re-established. These changes came into effect for the 1978 election. The electorate existed from 1978 to 1984: it replaced parts of Franklin and Raglan in 1978, and was replaced mostly by a recreated Raglan electorate, with the balance going to a recreated Franklin in the 1983 electoral redistribution.
  
  Population centres for those six years included Pukekohe, Meremere, Huntly, and Ngāruawāhia.
  
  ## History
  
  In the 1978 election, the Rangiriri electorate was won by future National minister Bill Birch, who had been MP for the Franklin electorate since the 1972 election. When Rangiriri was abolished for the 1984 election, Birch transferred back to the Franklin electorate.
  
  ### Member of Parliament
  
  Key
  
  National
  
  | Election | Winner |
  | - | - |
  | 1978 election | Bill Birch |
  | 1981 election | Bill Birch |
  | Electorate abolished 1984; see Raglan and Franklin |||
  
  ## Election results
  
  ### 1981 election
  
  1981 general election: Rangiriri :
  
  | Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
  | - | - | - | - | - | - |
  | | National | Bill Birch | 8,148 | 46.83 | -0.81 |
  | | Labour | Roy Haywood | 5,144 | 29.56 | |
  | | Social Credit | Ron Gilberd | 4,105 | 23.59 | +6.64 |
  | Majority | Majority | Majority | 3,004 | 17.26 | +3.60 |
  | Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 17,397 | 87.33 | +19.16 |
  | Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 19,919 | | |
  
  ### 1978 election
  
  1978 general election: Rangiriri :
  
  | Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
  | - | - | - | - | - |
  | | National | Bill Birch | 7,934 | 47.64 |
  | | Labour | Robert Frederick McKee | 5,658 | 33.97 |
  | | Social Credit | Ron Gilberd | 2,824 | 16.95 |
  | | Values | John Cameron | 238 | 1.42 |
  | Majority | Majority | Majority | 2,276 | 13.66 |
  | Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 16,654 | 68.17 |
  | Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 24,428 | |
  