1941 Bay of Plenty by-election

The Bay of Plenty by-election of 1941 was a by-election for the electorate of Bay of Plenty held on 13 December 1941 during the 26th New Zealand Parliament. The by-election resulted from the death of the previous member Gordon Hultquist of the Labour Party who was killed in World War II.

1941 Bay of Plenty by-election
13 December 1941
Turnout7,699 (83.48%)
 
Candidate Bill Sullivan Charles Mills
Party National Labour
Popular vote 4,675 3,024
Percentage 60.72 39.27
MP before election

Gordon Hultquist
Labour

 Elected MP

Bill Sullivan
National

The by-election was won by Bill Sullivan of the National Party; Labour lost a seat.

Campaign

Initially there was speculation that there would be no election necessary and that the National Party would not stand a candidate after the death of an MP on service in wartime (as happened in the Waitemata by-election).[1] This was not to be the case and National stood their candidate from the 1938 election and former Mayor of Whakatane Bill Sullivan.[2]

The Labour Party selected Charles Mills, a baker, as their candidate. He was an elected member of the Poverty Bay Electric Power Board and had been a campaign organiser for Hultquist in Bay of Plenty in both the 1935 and 1938 elections.[3]

The incipient Democratic Labour Party (DLP), who had recently formed a branch in the electorate in Opotiki, also contemplated standing a candidate.[4] However the DLP did not contest the seat.

Results

The following table gives the election results:

1941 Bay of Plenty by-election[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
National Bill Sullivan 4,675 60.72 +11.91
Labour Charles Mills 3,024 39.27
Informal votes 136 1.76 +1.11
Majority 1,651 21.44
Turnout 7,699 83.48 -9.03
Registered electors 9,222

References
  1. Contest Assured. 11 November 1941. p. 4. Retrieved 8 October 2020. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  2. Bay of Plenty Seat - National Party's Candidate. 21 November 1941. p. 6. Retrieved 8 October 2020. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  3. Labour Nominee. 19 November 1941. p. 6. Retrieved 8 October 2020. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  4. Bay of Plenty Seat. 17 November 1941. p. 3. Retrieved 8 October 2020. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  5. "Declaration of Result of Poll". Bay of Plenty Beacon. Vol. 4, no. 199. 5 January 1942. p. 1. Retrieved 23 December 2015.


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