Division of Barris

Barris 巴里斯 Bālǐsī バリス Barisu Craftian House of Representatives Division
Division Details
Created	2058
MP	Kevin Jong
Party	Conservative
Namesake	Edward Barris
Electors	105,387
Demographic	Regional metropolitan

The Division of Barris is a Craftian federal division in the state of Jebsten. It was created in 2058, and is named after Edward Barris, the 9th Prime Minister of Craftia (serving 2009–2013). The division was first contested at the 2058 federal election. It has always been centred around the regional city of Twixton and its surrounds.

The sitting member, since the 2067 federal election, is Kevin Jong, a member of the Craftian Conservative Party.

History

The Division of Barris was effectively carved out of the abolished Division of Christopher, a large electorate covering much of the western Jebsten Peninsula, which was removed following a redistribution that would have rendered it impossible to draw borders for considering its population decline. Christopher was abolished and voters in Twixton were transferred to Barris while the remaining rural portion was split between Phillipson and Promontory. The last member for Christopher, Major Hepburn, transferred to Barris upon its abolition.

The seat's voting patterns are significantly affected by redistributions, as the urban centre of Twixton heavily supports the National United Party while booths further out and in the rural surrounds are strongly Conservative-leaning. Therefore, redistributions easily tilt the urban-rural split towards one or the other, depending on the balance of voters from each part of the seat. Barris is therefore one of the most marginal seats in the country and is highly coveted by both major parties. In its current incarnation, it has recently increased in geographical size to include some surrounding rural towns, boosting the Conservative margin to a still marginal 5.60%.

Barris is one of the few remaining electorates where both major parties regularly poll over 40 percent each.

Members

#	Member		Party	Term
1		Major Hepburn	Conservative	2058–2061
2		Jamie Kim	United	2061–2067
3		Kevin Jong	Conservative	2067–

Election results

Craftian federal election, 2070: Barris
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Kevin Jong	41,322	45.27	–6.22
	United	Jamie Kim	35,215	38.58	+0.62
	Reform	Tsui Tamwai	6,526	7.15	–0.56
	RUC–LA	David Ipswich	3,505	3.84	+3.84
	Liberal	Vanessa Deng	2,957	3.24	–1.31
	Greens	Michael Beardley	1,753	1.92	–0.09
Total formal votes			91,279	96.35	+0.37
Informal votes			3,455	3.65	–0.37
Turnout			94,734	89.89	–2.36
Two-party-preferred result
	Conservative	Kevin Jong	50,751	55.60	–3.45
	United	Jamie Kim	40,528	44.40	+3.45
	Conservative hold		Swing	–3.45