gerrymander

In politics, to rearrange constituency boundaries to give an unfair advantage to the ruling party.

The term derives from US politician Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), who in 1812, while governor of Massachusetts, reorganized an electoral district shaped like a salamander in favour of his party.

The restructuring of local authorities in Scotland 1995 was perceived as an instance of gerrymandering by the Conservative Party, who nonetheless did not control a single council after the subsequent election. In the USA, there have been Republican complaints of the ‘racial gerrymandering’ of congressional districts in Texas, Louisiana, and North Carolina so as to produce majority black districts.