List of by-elections to the Wellington City Council

By-elections to the Wellington City Council occur to fill vacant seats in the City Council. The death, resignation, bankruptcy or expulsion of a sitting Councillor can cause a by-election to occur. By-elections were particularly frequent in the 1980s and 1990s but have become a rarity in recent years with only two occurring since 2000. The last by-election in Wellington was in 2017 triggered by Deputy-Mayor Paul Eagle's resignation upon being elected MP for Rongotai.[1]

Background

Local by-elections normally have lower turnouts than full local body elections. A noted case occurred in 1960 when a vacancy triggered a by-election which had a turnout of only 7.7% of voters, prompting Mayor Frank Kitts to label the light turnout a "deplorable state of affairs" as "...there were responsible and worthwhile citizens who were prepared to devote their time and money in service to the people".[2] By-elections on the city council were on occasion deferred if a substantial majority of the council agreed to fill the vacancy by appointment, resulting in the highest polling unsuccessful candidate at the previous election being appointed to the council unless there is a public demand for a poll to be held (known as extraordinary vacancies). This arrangement has happened several times such as in 1973 when Olive Smuts-Kennedy resigned her seat and Seton Nossiter was appointed to replace her, in 1979 when Irvine Yardley resigned and was replaced with Tala Cleverley after several higher polling candidates declined the appointment,[3] and in 1985 when Leone Harkness resigned and her council seat which was taken by Bruce Harris.[4]

Two Mayors first entered the Council via by-elections; John Luke (in 1905) and Celia Wade-Brown (in 1994).

List

1901–86

Between 1901 and 1986 municipal elections in Wellington were conducted at large.[5] The following is a list of by-elections held to fill vacancies on the Wellington City Council at large:

Key

Independent

Labour

Citizens'

Date	Incumbent		Cause	Winner
1904		David Nathan	Resignation		Folk Cohen
1905		George Wiltshire	Death		John Luke
1906		Arthur Gibbs	Resignation		John Smith
1910		James Devine	Death		William Barber
		Thomas Ballinger	Resignation		William Thompson
1912		David McLaren	Elected as Mayor		Edward Tregear
1920		George Frost	Death		William Gaudin
1922		Sydney Underwood	Death		Alexander Parton
1926		Alec Monteith	Resignation		John Glover
1927		John Caughley	Resignation		Charlton Morpeth
1933		Frank Meadowcroft	Death		Peter Fraser
1936		William Bennett	Death		John Read
1949		Frederick Furkert	Death		Berkeley Dallard
1955		Stewart Hardy	Appointed as Magistrate		Allan Highet
1960		Mervyn Castle	Death		Robert Archibald
1969		William Scollay	Resignation		Les Chapman
		John Turk			Hollis Reed

1986–present

Since 1986 municipal elections in Wellington have been held via a Wards system of local electoral districts.[6] The following is a list of by-elections held to fill vacancies on the Wellington City Council under the ward system:

Key

Independent

Labour

Citizens'

Green

Ward	Date	Incumbent		Cause	Winner
Otari	1987		Rosemary Young-Rouse	Resignation		Les Stephens
Karori	1987		Gavin Wilson	Resignation		Arthur Kinsella
Southern	1989		Neville Taylor	Resignation		Rodney Murphy
Southern	1991		John Blincoe	Elected MP for Nelson		Margaret Bonner
Onslow	1994		David Bull	Resignation		Judy Siers
Southern	1994		Merrin Downing	Resignation		Celia Wade-Brown
Southern	1996		John Gilberthorpe	Resignation		Bryan Pepperell
Northern	1997		Sally Baber	Resignation		Jack Ruben
Eastern	2000		Sue Kedgley	Elected as List MP		Ray Ahipene-Mercer
Southern	2017		Paul Eagle	Elected MP for Rongotai		Fleur Fitzsimons

Results

1904 by-election

1904 Wellington City Council by-election[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Falk Cohen	877	41.64
	Ind. Labour League	William Hampton	413	19.61	-12.62
	Independent	George Baylis	357	16.95	-16.10
	Independent	Robert Henry Davenport	230	10.92	-43.29
	Independent	Francis Loudon	229	10.87
Majority			464	22.03
Turnout			2,106	17.20

1905 by-election

1905 Wellington City Council by-election[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	John Luke	1,706	41.91
	Ind. Labour League	William Noot	745	18.30
	Independent	George Baylis	723	17.76	-18.19
	Independent	Arthur Fullford	487	11.96	-20.60
	Independent	Nicholas McGuiness	277	6.80
	Independent	Mathew Henry Biggs	132	3.24
Majority			961	23.61
Turnout			4,070	19.75

1906 by-election

1906 Wellington City Council by-election[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	John Smith	759	28.18
	Independent	Richard Keene	586	21.76	-7.63
	Independent	Martin Luckie	330	12.25	-18.22
	Ind. Labour League	John Ball	266	9.87
	Independent	Thomas Wardell	216	8.02
	Independent	William J. Branigan	197	7.31	-15.20
	Independent	Alex Rand	140	5.19	-26.14
	Independent	Henry Fielder	126	4.67
	Independent	William James Gray	82	3.04
Majority			173	6.42
Turnout			2,693	13.30

1910 by-election

1910 Wellington City Council by-election[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Citizens League	William Henry Peter Barber	2,318	43.84
	Citizens League	William Thompson	1,468	27.76
	Independent	James Moran	1,221	23.09
	Labour	Michael Reardon	1,198	22.65	+0.01
	Independent	James Godber	1,184	22.39
	Labour	Elijah Carey	1,112	21.03	-1.00
	Independent	Henry Hampton Rayward	704	13.31
	Independent	Sydney George Nathan	516	9.75
	Independent	James Speed	508	9.60
	Independent	Ernest Coleridge	458	8.66
	Independent	Vilhelm Jensen	457	8.64	-4.96
	Independent	Arthur Harry Fulford	297	5.61
	Independent	Andrew Hornblow	213	4.02
Majority			247	4.67
Turnout			5,287

1912 by-election

1912 Wellington City Council by-election[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Labour	Edward Tregear	4,487	53.16
	Citizens League	William Thompson	3,694	43.76	+8.86
	Independent	Arthur Fulford	259	3.06
Majority			793	9.39
Turnout			8,440

1920 by-election

1920 Wellington City Council by-election[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Citizens League	William Gaudin	5,159	63.87	+24.91
	Labour	Tom Brindle	2,917	36.13	-3.62
Majority			2,239	27.73
Turnout			8,073	24.13

1922 by-election

1922 Wellington City Council by-election,[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Citizens League	Alexander Parton	5,743	56.82	+22.67
	Labour	John Glover	4,147	41.03	+9.87
	Independent	Patrick Cavanagh	217	2.14	-4.07
Majority			1,596	15.79
Turnout			10,107	23.95

1926 by-election

1926 Wellington City Council by-election[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Glover	2,114	53.03	+18.52
	Civic League	William Gaudin	1,845	46.28
Informal votes			27	0.67
Majority			269	6.74
Turnout			3,986	9.03

1927 by-election

Ballot paper for the 1927 by-election

1927 Wellington City Council by-election[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Civic League	Charlton Morpeth	3,738	54.52	+22.44
	Labour	John Glover	3,096	45.16	+5.74
Informal votes			21	0.30
Majority			642	9.36
Turnout			6,855	15.33

1933 by-election

1933 Wellington City Council by-election[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Fraser	11,607	48.64
	Citizens'	Robert Wright	11,288	47.31
	Independent	John Castle	517	2.16
	Communist	Richard Webb	311	1.30	-13.81
Informal votes			136	0.57
Majority			319	1.33
Turnout			23,859	42.94

1936 by-election

1936 Wellington City Council by-election[17][18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Read	10,032	49.29	+5.89
	Citizens'	Thomas Forsyth	9,217	45.29	+1.35
	Independent	Bruce Mabin	919	4.51
Informal votes			182	0.89
Majority			815	4.00
Turnout			20,350	29.13

1949 by-election

1949 Wellington City Council by-election[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Citizens'	Berkeley Dallard	5,271	33.14
	Independent	Leslie Austin	3,375	21.21
	Independent	Stanley Dean	3,291	20.69
	Independent	William Bacon	2,961	18.61
	Independent	Thomas Callingham	848	5.33
Informal votes			159	0.99
Majority			1,896	11.92
Turnout			15,905	15.0

1955 by-election

1955 Wellington City Council by-election[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Citizens'	Allan Highet	12,464	54.07
	Labour	Ernie Langford	10,488	45.50	+9.14
Informal votes			97	0.42
Majority			1,976	8.57
Turnout			23,049	27.0

1960 by-election

1960 Wellington City Council by-election[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Robert Archibald	2,588	37.68	+6.53
	Citizens'	John Turk	2,028	29.52	-9.54
	Labour	Charles Troughton	1,741	25.34	-1.70
	Independent	Annette Griffin	297	4.32	-7.26
	Communist	Paul Potiki	203	2.95
Informal votes			11	0.16
Majority			560	8.15
Turnout			6,868	7.70

1969 by-election

1969 Wellington City Council by-election[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Citizens'	Les Chapman	6,325	47.13	+8.59
	Citizens'	Hollis Reed	5,876	43.78	+11.01
	Labour	Peter Butler	5,154	38.40	+0.12
	Labour	Edward Hill	4,881	36.37	-2.22
	Independent	Saul Goldsmith	2,301	17.14	+0.86
	Civic Reform	Donald McMillain	1,280	9.53	-0.78
	Independent	Harry Hughes	1,021	7.60	-6.19
Majority			722	5.38
Turnout			13,419	19.80

1987 by-election, Otari Ward

1987 Otari Ward by-election[23][24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Citizens'	Les Stephens	4,388	49.31
	Labour	Valerie Taylor	3,326	37.38
	Independent	Bob Monks	884	9.93
	Independent	Darryl Ward	299	3.36
Majority			1,062	11.93
Turnout			8,897	51.23

1987 by-election, Karori Ward

1987 Karori Ward by-election[25][26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Citizens'	Arthur Kinsella	2,750	56.41
	Labour	Tracey Crampton-Smith	2,125	43.59	-20.14
Majority			625	12.82
Turnout			4,875	55.42

1989 by-election, Southern Ward

1989 Southern Ward by-election[27][28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rodney Murphy	1,566	36.79
	Citizens'	Brian Barraclough	1,496	35.15
	Independent	Warwick Taylor	786	18.46
	Independent	Owen Henderson	408	9.58
Majority			70	1.64
Turnout			4,256	35.36

1991 by-election, Southern Ward

1991 Southern Ward by-election[29][30]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Margaret Bonner	2,492	27.92
	Independent	Helene Ritchie	1,564	17.52
	Citizens'	Ann Nolan	1,406	15.75
	Green	Liz Thomas	1,136	12.72
	NewLabour	Jeff Montgomery	903	10.11
	Independent	Silvio Bartholomeo Famularo	807	9.04
	Independent	Bill Maung	278	3.11	-10.11
	People's Party	Christopher Ellis	116	1.29	-8.99
	Independent	Harry Hughes	110	1.23
	Independent	Isiona Harmer	97	1.08
	Communist League	Patrick Brown	15	0.16
Majority			928	10.39
Turnout			8,924	43.02

1994 by-election, Onslow Ward

1994 Onslow Ward by-election[31]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Citizens'	Judy Siers	1,762	37.33
	Independent	Helene Ritchie	997	21.12
	Independent	Jill Main	925	19.60
	Alliance	Philip Lyth	502	10.63
	Independent	Bob Monks	328	6.95	-4.80
	McGillicuddy Serious	Jonathan Wharton	93	1.97
	Independent	Alexander Schiff	88	1.86	-2.29
Informal votes			24	0.50	-3.73
Majority			765	16.21
Turnout			4,719	45.42

1994 by-election, Southern Ward

1994 Southern Ward by-election[31]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Alliance Greens	Celia Wade-Brown	2,429	29.61	-6.90
	Labour	Hola Taue	2,197	26.78
	Independent	Eddie Mollier	1,404	17.11
	Independent	Bryan Pepperell	886	10.80
	Independent	Alan Chambers	666	8.11
	Independent	John Ulrich	396	4.82
	McGillicuddy Serious	John Morrison	184	2.24
Informal votes			40	0.48	-3.79
Majority			232	2.82
Turnout			8,202	39.54

1996 by-election, Southern Ward

1996 Southern Ward by-election[32]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Bryan Pepperell	2,381	30.51	-7.24
	Labour	Hola Taue	2,322	29.76	-17.91
	Alliance	Roland Sapsford	1,347	17.26	-7.42
	Independent	Alan Chambers	1,115	14.29
	Independent	Jonathan Mosen	441	5.65
	Asia Pacific	Mano'o Lutena Mulitalo	196	2.51
Majority			59	0.75
Turnout			7,802	36.89

1997 by-election, Northern Ward

1997 Northern Ward by-election[33]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Jack Ruben	3,737	33.23
	Citizens'	Ian Hutchings	2,949	26.22
	Independent	Helene Ritchie	2,820	25.08
	Alliance	John Fanning	1,453	12.92	-13.76
	Independent	Penelope Donovan	284	2.52
Informal votes			98	0.87
Majority			788	7.00
Turnout			11,243	41.73

2000 by-election, Eastern Ward

2000 Eastern Ward by-election[34]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Ray Ahipene-Mercer	3,034	33.12
	Independent	Richard Griffin	1,691	18.46
	Future NZ	Linda Dring	902	9.84
	Independent	Jo Morgan	847	9.24
	Independent	Gareth Rapson	843	9.20
	Independent	Jack Ruben	738	8.05
	Independent	Rama Ramanathan	601	6.56
	Legalise Cannabis	Michael Appleby	245	2.67
	Independent	Phil Sprey	145	1.58
	McGillicuddy Serious	Vince Terreni	86	0.93
Informal votes			27	0.29
Majority			1,343	14.66
Turnout			9,159	38.50

2017 by-election, Southern Ward

2017 Southern Ward by-election[35][36]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Fleur Fitzsimons	2,805	42.79
	Independent	Laurie Foon	2,473	37.72
	Independent	Vicki Grecko	1,765	26.92
	Independent	Mohamud Mohamed	569	8.68
	Independent	Merio Marsters	295	4.50
	Independent	Rob Goulden	255	3.89
	Independent	Thomas Morgan	73	1.11
	Independent	Don McDonald	61	0.93
Informal votes			13	0.19
Majority			332	5.06
Turnout			6,555	30.90

Notes

1. McAndrew, Ruby (24 September 2017). "Just when you thought it was safe to relax ... it's back to the polls in Wellington and Hastings". Stuff. Retrieved 25 September 2017.
2. "Light election poll 'appalling'". The Dominion. 12 September 1960.
3. Brown, Karen (15 February 1979). "Tala Cleverley is Ready for the Council". The Evening Post.
4. Moran, Paul (16 May 1985). "Harris back on Council". The Dominion.
5. Betts 1970, pp. 39.
6. "Local elections on ward basis". The Evening Post. 9 October 1984.
7. "Extraordinary Vacancy". Free Lance. V (216). 20 August 1904. p. 14. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
8. "City Council Election". The Evening Post. LXX (54). 1 September 1905. p. 2. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
9. "City Council By-election". The Evening Post. LXXI (100). 28 April 1906. p. 5. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
10. "Election Notices". The Dominion. 3 (918). 10 September 1910. p. 2. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
11. "Labour Wins City Council Elections". Oamaru Mail. XXXVI (11636). 18 May 1912. p. 5. Retrieved 10 June 2016.
12. "The by-election". The Dominion. 13 (305). 18 September 1920. p. 6. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
13. "Extraordinary Vacancy". The Evening Post. CIV (17). 20 July 1922. p. 2. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
14. "Win for Labour". The Evening Post. CXII (20). 23 July 1926. p. 4. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
15. "The by-election". The Evening Post. CIV (132). 1 December 1927. p. 8. Retrieved 23 January 2018.
16. "Labour Win". Auckland Star. LXIV (152). 30 June 1933. p. 12. Retrieved 22 May 2017.
17. "Extraordinary Vacancy". The Evening Post. CXXII (111). 6 November 1936. p. 2. Retrieved 14 April 2019.
18. "Labour Victory". The Evening Post. CXXII (110). 5 November 1936. p. 10. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
19. Coppin, W. S. (9 November 1949). Result of By-Election (Report). Wellington City Council.
20. James, T. W. (10 February 1955). City By-Election (Report). Wellington City Council.
21. James, T. W. (12 September 1960). City By-Election (Report). Wellington City Council.
22. "Final Results of City By-election". The Evening Post. 24 November 1969.
23. Bly, Ross (13 July 1987). Otari Ward By-Election (Report). Wellington City Council.
24. "Stephens' clear Otari win gives fillip to Citizens". The Evening Post. 11 May 1987.
25. Bly, Ross (13 July 1987). Karori Ward By-Election (Report). Wellington City Council.
26. "Declaration of Result of Election". The Evening Post. 14 July 1987.
27. Bly, Ross (13 March 1989). Southern Ward By-Election (Report). Wellington City Council.
28. "Declaration of Result of Election". The Evening Post. 14 March 1989.
29. Bly, Ross (29 April 1991). Southern Ward By-Election (Report). Wellington City Council.
30. "Declaration of Result of Election". The Evening Post. 1 May 1991.
31. Murphy, Lyn (2 May 1994). "New Councillors get to work". The Evening Post. p. 3.
32. Moran, Paul (4 November 1996). "Pepperell wins council by-election". The Dominion. p. 2.
33. Walsh, Rebecca (24 March 1997). "New City Councillor Promises Changes". The Evening Post. p. 1.
34. "Environmentalist wins council by-election". The Dominion. 1 May 2000. p. 7.
35. Lampp, Warwick (22 December 2017). "Results". Wellington City Council. Retrieved 23 December 2017.
36. Devlin, Collette (22 December 2017). "Fleur Fitzsimons wins Wellington City Council southern ward by-election". Stuff. Retrieved 23 December 2017.

References

• Betts, G.M. (1970). Betts on Wellington: A City and its Politics. Wellington: A. H. & A. W. Reed Ltd. ISBN 0 589 00469 7.