18 August, which was won by Geoffrey Palmer. Palmer eventually went on to become Prime Minister. Palmer retired at the and was succeeded by Lianne Dalziel. At the , i.e. with the advent of MMP, Dalziel did not contest an electorate but stood as a list candidate only. Tim Barnett succeeded her and held the electorate until the , when he retired. Brendon Burns succeeded Barnett. The election night results for the resulted in a tie; Burns and Nicky Wagner of the National Party received 10,493 votes each. The outcome of the election thus depended on the special votes. This was the first time a tie result had been achieved since 1928. When the final vote count was announced on 10 December, Wagner was declared the winner with a majority of 45 over Burns, making the result the second-smallest majority after . Due to the closeness of the results a judicial recount was held where Wagner's majority increased by 2 votes to 47. When draft electoral boundary changes were released, Wagner declared the electorate "unwinnable" for National. Although she was expected to not contest the 2014 general election, she announced at the end of January 2014 that she would try to defend her seat. Labour chose Tony Milne as their candidate for Christchurch Central. Wagner had a 2,420 majority over Milne. The Labour Party chose Duncan Webb as its candidate for the 2017 general election. He is a prominent lawyer and earthquake claims advocate. Webb narrowly won the seat in 2017, and massively increased his majority at the amid that year's Labour landslide. Members of Parliament Christchurch Central has been represented by eight MPs. Since its creation in 1946 until the 2011 general election it had been a safe seat for the Labour Party. It was then held by the National Party until the 2017 general election when it swung back to Labour. Key List MPs Members of Parliament elected from party lists in elections where that person also unsuccessfully contested the Christchurch Central electorate. Election results 2020 election 2017 election 2014 election 2011 election Electorate (as at 26 November 2011): 39,419 2008 election 2005 election 2002 election 1999 election 1996 election 1993 election 1990 election 1987 election 1984 election 1981 election 1979 by-election 1978 election 1975 election 1972 election 1969 election 1966 election 1963 election 1960 election 1957 election 1954 election 1951 election 1949 election 1946 election Table footnotes