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Constituencies are the voting districts for regional council elections. They were first established in November 1989. They are defined under the Local Electoral Act 2001 and boundaries must coincide with meshblock boundaries.
Constituencies are required to reflect communities of interest and their boundaries must, so far as is practicable, coincide with territorial authority and ward boundaries.
If a regional council decides to have a Māori constituency, the constituencies within the council area are known as general constituencies and Māori constituencies.
The Local Electoral Act 2001 provides for the constituency boundaries to be reviewed before every second triennial local government election.
See also ‘Regional council’, ‘Meshblock’, ‘Territorial authority’, and ‘Ward’ in this definitions group.
en-NZ