John Blincoe

John Blincoe is a former New Zealand politician. He was an MP from 1990 to 1996, representing the Labour Party. It may be noted that he has not once been a member of the Government: in both of his terms in office he was a part of the Opposition.

Early life and family

According to his eldest daughter, Blincoe was born on 14 March 1952 in Nelson, New Zealand to Victor and May Blincoe. He attended Hampden St. School, Nelson College Preparatory School and Nelson College. Later, he was educated at Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand where he gained two degrees: one in law and the other in political science. Prior to becoming a member of New Zealand's parliament, he had been employed by the Wellington City Council as well as by the Accident Compensation Corporation. Blincoe currently lives in Wellington. He has two children: Kate and Emily Blincoe.

Member of Parliament

Blincoe was first elected to Parliament in the 1990 elections as MP for Nelson, replacing the outgoing Philip Woollaston. He was re-elected in the 1993 elections, but in the 1996 elections, the seat of Nelson was expanded into rural areas formerly part of the Tasman electorate. Blincoe was defeated by the incumbent Tasman MP, Nick Smith of the National Party.

1999 election

In the 1999 election, Blincoe missed out on a seat in a spectacularly fascinating manner. Initially (before special votes were taken into consideration), it appeared that Blincoe would have a seat in Parliament; along with the party member directly below him on the Labour party's list. However, with the counting of the special votes, the Green Party, who initially had gained a proportion of votes less than 5% and had no constituency MPs voted in, achieved the minimum percentage of 5%: enabling them to have seats in Parliament. The counting of the special votes resulted in the Green Party achieving six list seats as well as one constituency seat. "I got in on election night", says Blincoe, " [but only] just - by a couple of places ... The Greens didn't get in on election night [as their percentage of votes was] just below 5%, but on the final count they got in [under MMP] ." Hence, the overall percentage of seats allocated to Labour diminished. Had this been the only seat loss for his party, Blincoe would still have received a seat in Parliament. However, Winston Peters (albeit by a very narrow margin of sixty-two votes - to the National candidate) gained the constituency seat of Tauranga which enabled his party, New Zealand First, to acquire seats in Parliament. Again, this caused the number of seats allocated to the Labour party to diminish. The former, coupled with the latter, led to Blincoe being denied a seat: the margin was that of two seats. "If the Greens hadn't got in on the final counts or, (b), if Winston Peters had not gained the Tauranga seat", Blincoe continues, he would have been a member of Parliament.

Further reading

:*citation |title = Flatting: a tenant’s guide|place = Wellington, [N.Z.] |publisher = National Youth Council |year = 1973

*"This pamphlet was written by Blincoe and Julian Ludbrook."

:*citation |title = You and the Rent Appeal Act [1973] |place = Wellington, [N.Z.] |publisher = National Youth Council and the New Zealand University Students’ Association |year = 1974

*"This pamphlet was written by Blincoe and Julian Ludbrook."

:*citation |first = John |last = Blincoe |title = Nelson electorate newsletter|place = Nelson, [N.Z.] |publisher = John Blincoe |year = 1992-1996

:*citation |first1 = John |last1 = Blincoe |first2 = Julian |last2 = Ludbrook |first3 = Peter |last3 = Cullen |title = Tenants and the law: a handbook for people who rent their homes |place = Wellington, [N.Z.] |publisher = National Youth Council of New Zealand |year = 1978