Te Puku O Te Whenua or "the belly of the land" was one of the five new New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorates created in 1996 for MMP. It was replaced in the 1999 election.
Population centres
The electorate included the following population centres:
Dannevirke
Feilding
Hastings
Hāwera
Masterton
Napier
New Plymouth
Palmerston North
Taumarunui
Taupō
Wanganui
Rohe
The electorate included the following rohe:
Ngati Apa, Ngāti Rangitāne, Ngāti Raukawa - Feilding, Palmerston North & Wanganui Ngati Kahungunu - Hawke's Bay, Hastings, Napier and Wairarapa Ngati Maru, Ngati Mutanga, Ngati Tama - Taranaki Te Atiawa - Taranaki
History
Te Puku O Te Whenua, or the belly of the land, was one of the five new Māori electorates created for the 1996 election with the introduction of mixed-member proportional (MMP) representation, and which were all won by the Tight Five of the New Zealand First from Labour. The 1996 election was won by Rana Waitai.
In the 1999 election it was substantially replaced by Ikaroa-Rāwhiti.