1944 Dunedin mayoral election

The 1944 Dunedin mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1944, elections were held for the Mayor of Dunedin plus other local government positions including twelve city councillors. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.

1944 Dunedin mayoral election
27 May 1944
Turnout31,251 (70.16%)
 
Candidate Donald Cameron Gervan McMillan
Party Citizens' Labour
Popular vote 15,859 15,169
Percentage 50.74 48.53
Mayor before election

Andrew Allen

 Elected Mayor

Donald Cameron

Background

Andrew Henson Allen, the incumbent Mayor, declined to run for a third term. Gervan McMillan the retired Labour MP for Dunedin West contested the mayoralty for a second time, but was narrowly defeated by councillor Donald Cameron. McMillan did, however, win a seat on the council.

Labour gained ground on the city council, winning six of the twelve seats, with three Citizens' councillors seeking re-election defeated.[1] A recount was called for the city council poll by a Labour candidate Mark Silverstone. It changed the result slightly with Michael Connelly displacing Wally Hudson as the lowest polling successful candidate. It did not alter the party strength on the council as both had run as Labour candidates. The council viewed judged the recount to be unjustified and charged Silverstone to cover the cost of the recounting efforts.[2]

Mayoral results
1944 Dunedin mayoral election[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Citizens' Donald Cameron 15,859 50.74
Labour Gervan McMillan 15,169 48.53 +1.65
Informal votes 223 0.71 -0.05
Majority 690 2.20
Turnout 31,251 70.16

Council results
1944 Dunedin local election[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Robert Walls 16,918 54.13 +0.16
Labour Phil Connolly 16,068 51.41 -6.10
Labour Gervan McMillan 15,575 49.83
Citizens' John McRae 15,406 49.29 -2.50
Labour Jim Munro 15,400 49.27 -0.57
Labour Meynell Blain 15,377 49.20
Citizens' Leonard James Tobin Ireland 14,966 47.88 -0.36
Citizens' Robert Forsyth-Barr 14,957 47.86
Citizens' Len Wright 14,893 47.65 -1.37
Citizens' David Charles Jolly 14,838 47.48 -0.57
Citizens' William Taverner 14,748 47.19 -3.26
Labour Michael Connelly 14,722 47.11 +0.88
Labour Wally Hudson[nb 1] 14,720 47.10 +1.23
Citizens' William Stewart Armitage 14,764 47.24
Independent Charlie Hayward 14,672 46.94
Citizens' Edmund J. Smith 14,650 46.87 -1.33
Citizens' John Wilson 14,503 46.40 -4.03
Labour Hubert Brown 14,036 44.91
Labour William Robert Clarke 13,937 44.59
Citizens' William Wallace Callender 13,873 44.39
Labour William Benedict Richards 13,656 43.69
Citizens' Matthew Cochrane Henderson 13,458 43.06 -6.03
Labour Mark Silverstone 13,398 42.87 +4.86
Labour Wilfred Claude McDonnell 12,776 40.88
Independent Robert Bell Middlemiss 3,640 11.64

Table footnotes:

  1. Hudson was appointed to the council in 1945 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Jim Munro.[5]

References
  1. "Labour Gains in Dunedin". The Press. Vol. LXXX, no. 24269. 29 May 1944. p. 7. Retrieved 11 February 2018.
  2. "City Council Election Recount Unwarranted". Otago Daily Times. No. 25572. 27 June 1944. p. 4. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  3. "The City Mayoralty". Otago Daily Times. No. 25547. 29 May 1944. p. 6. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  4. "Election Notices". Otago Daily Times. No. 25569. 23 June 1944. p. 6. Retrieved 30 January 2022.
  5. "City Council Vacancy". Otago Daily Times. No. 25874. 19 June 1945. p. 4. Retrieved 23 May 2019.
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