It was located in the South Island, covering southern Canterbury and northern Otago.
More than half of the electorates contested in 1996 were newly constituted, and most of the remainder had seen significant boundary changes.
The electorate of Aoraki was created for the 1996 election, as part of the major redistribution in the transition to MMP.
However, in boundary changes for the 2008 general election, Aoraki ceased to exist, with the bulk of its population centres being transferred to a resurrected electorate named Rangitata.
Key Labour NZ First Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote.
Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent.