– 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 the office. Richards was succeeded by Warren Freer in the , and Freer held the electorate until he retired in 1981. Freer was challenged in the by National's Muldoon (Prime Minister from 1975 to 1984). This occasion was Muldoon's first attempt at entering Parliament. He tried to claim the seat from Labour, but no National Party candidate has ever managed to achieve what Muldoon also couldn't do. Mount Albert's inner-suburb, working-class composition makes it one of the Labour Party's safest seats. Muldoon had also previously in , failed to win the National nomination for the Mount Albert electorate. Freer was succeeded by Helen Clark, who held the electorate until 1996, when it was abolished and she moved to the electorate instead. When the Mount Albert electorate was re-established for the , Clark became the representative again. Clark 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 through the 13 June 2009 by-election. He was re-elected as MP in the 2011 and 2014 general elections. His appointment to lead the United Nation's peacekeeping mission in South Sudan resulted in a by-election in early 2017. After the by-election, Jacinda Ardern became the new representative for the electorate, and became Labour leader 8 weeks before the 2017 election after Andrew Little stepped down as Labour leader. Ardern also moved electorate from Auckland Central, and won the Mt. Albert MP role in the 2017 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 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