 In the electorate vote, she placed third behind the incumbent MP, United Future leader Peter Dunne and Labour's Charles Chauvel, with Shanks gaining 7,329 votes, a gain of 2% from the 2002 result for National candidate Dale Stevens.However, National's party vote within the electorate increased by nearly 19% and exceeded that of Labour (although they had also improved slightly on their 2002 result).The initial results for the election on 17 September 2005 (election night) would have seen Shanks elected as a list MP; but the official count including special votes resulted in Shanks not going into Parliament on the list.