1971 Lower Hutt mayoral election

The 1971 Lower Hutt mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. The elections were held for the role of Mayor of Lower Hutt plus other local government positions including fifteen city councillors, also elected triennially. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.

1971 Lower Hutt mayoral election

9 October 1971
Turnout18,440 (46.15%)
 
Candidate John Kennedy-Good John Seddon Dave Hadley
Party Combined Team Labour Citizens'
Popular vote 6,854 6,337 4,630
Percentage 37.16 34.36 25.10

Mayor before election

John Kennedy-Good

Elected Mayor

John Kennedy-Good

Background

1970 mid-term election

Mayor Percy Dowse died mid-term on 9 December 1970. Rather than hold a by-election the city council members decided to elect a councillor to finish the remainder of the term until the scheduled election 10 months later.[1] The council special meeting was held on 21 December. Councillor Chen Werry was nominated by Walter Gordon Bugden and seconded by Jessie Donald but he unexpectedly declined nomination. Cyril Phelps then nominated John Kennedy-Good which was seconded by Harold Meachen and finally the deputy mayor Dave Hadley was nominated by Ted Holdaway and seconded by Don Lee. A vote was held among the councillors by a show of hands. A visible split was seen with Citizens' Association councillors, splitting support between Hadley and Kennedy-Good, with Labour councillors (who were the minority on the council) all voting for Kennedy-Good who won nine votes to six.[2]

A list of each Councillors vote:

Councillor Mayoral Vote
Max Borra Hadley
Walter Gordon Bugden Kennedy-Good
Sam Chesney Kennedy-Good
Jessie Donald Kennedy-Good
Stan Frost Hadley
Ted Gibbs Kennedy-Good
Dave Hadley Hadley
Ted Holdaway Hadley
John Kennedy-Good Kennedy-Good
Don Lee Hadley
Harold Meachen Kennedy-Good
Kitty Mildenhall Kennedy-Good
Cyril Phelps Kennedy-Good
Jim Ross Hadley
Chen Werry Kennedy-Good

October 1971 election

Even after councillors elected Kennedy-Good as Dowse's successor the Citizens' Association, who had a majority on the council, did not select Kennedy-Good for the 1971 election. Instead they chose the deputy mayor (and 1968 candidate) Dave Hadley instead. As a result Kennedy-Good formed his own "combined" electoral ticket, consisting of candidates who were previously Citizens' and Labour affiliated, with which to contest the election. Thinking that the Labour Party was not intending to put up a ticket of their own, four Labour councillors joined the combined team. Labour did eventually decide to run its own ticket and party policy dictated that members could not stand for election against official party candidates resulting them having their Labour membership suspended.[1]

In an evenly divided poll Kennedy-Good narrowly edged out former Labour councillor John Seddon to win the mayoralty.[3] The city council was split three ways, with Labour winning a plurality of seats. Labour and Citizens' councillors made a deal to elect their own members to committee chairs and voted Seddon as deputy mayor, sidelining the Combined Team.[1]

At the election both a father and son were elected to the council. Chen Werry was re-elected to the council on the combined ticket while his son, Dick Werry, won a seat on the Labour ticket.[4] It also saw the election of the city's first ever Indian councillor, Govind Bhula, a civil engineer originally from Bombay.[5]

Mayoral results

1971 Lower Hutt mayoral election[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Combined Team John Kennedy-Good 6,854 37.16
Labour John Seddon 6,337 34.36
Citizens' Dave Hadley 4,630 25.10 -22.03
Independent Nick Ursin 484 2.62
Informal votes 135 0.73 -0.64
Majority 517 2.80
Turnout 18,440 46.15 +3.14

Councillor results

1971 Lower Hutt City Council election[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John Seddon 8,610 46.69
Labour Kitty Mildenhall 8,146 44.17 -4.53
Citizens' Don Lee 7,482 40.57 -13.04
Combined Team Chen Werry 7,225 39.18 -16.82
Citizens' Harold Turbott 7,133 38.68
Combined Team Sam Chesney 7,018 38.05 -11.64
Labour Lawrie Woodley 6,995 37.93
Citizens' Andrew Gordon Ash 6,860 37.20
Combined Team Jessie Donald 6,737 36.53 -11.23
Labour Govind Bhula 6,548 35.50
Labour Ernie Barry 6,494 35.21
Combined Team Stan Ramsom 6,344 34.40
Labour Dick Werry 6,258 33.93
Combined Team Ted Gibbs 6,130 33.24 -13.57
Labour Les Duckworth 6,030 32.70
Citizens' Francis John Cameron 5,974 32.39
Labour David Brian Carrad 5,966 32.35 -10.08
Combined Team Cyril Phelps 5,934 32.18 -15.13
Combined Team Gerald Bond 5,879 31.88
Citizens' Max Borra 5,693 30.87 -14.93
Labour Jack Ward 5,612 30.43
Labour Bert Sutherland 5,597 30.35 -11.46
Labour Laurie Sutton 5,596 30.34
Combined Team Jim Ross 5,496 29.80 -15.75
Labour Peter Gordon Palmer 5,458 29.59
Labour Laurence Phillip Lowe 5,391 29.23
Combined Team Glen Evans 5,388 29.21
Citizens' Stan Frost 5,354 29.03 -21.48
Labour Alick Shaw 5,221 28.31
Combined Team David Kincaid 4,807 26.06
Combined Team Vince Fitzgibbon 4,654 25.23
Combined Team Eric Pearce 4,564 24.75
Citizens' David James Smith 4,526 24.54
Combined Team Keith Thomas 4,427 24.00
Citizens' Parone Matiu 4,405 23.88
Labour Graeme Smith 4,354 23.61
Citizens' Sadie Williams 4,254 23.06
Combined Team Bill Lambert 4,197 22.76
Combined Team Ray Partridge 4,183 22.68
Citizens' George Ian Hooper 3,872 20.99
Citizens' Raymond Joseph McLaughlin 3,823 20.73
Citizens' Joseph David Peters 3,717 20.15
Citizens' Robert McMurray 3,665 19.87
Citizens' Charles Edward Maxted 3,624 19.65
Citizens' Andrew George Gathergood 3,540 19.19 -19.85
Independent Nick Ursin 2,400 13.01 -3.68
Independent Anthony Francis Foot 1,780 9.65

Notes

  1. McGill 1991, p. 189.
  2. "Dentist Mr Kennedy-Good Elected 14th Mayor of Lower Hutt on 9-6 Vote in Council". The Evening Post. 22 December 1970. p. 3.
  3. "Mr Kennedy-Good Just Retains Mayoralty in Face of Labour Bid". The Evening Post. 11 October 1971. p. 1.
  4. "Son Joins Father on L Hutt Council". The Evening Post. 11 October 1971. p. 2.
  5. "LH Elects Indian Councillor". The Evening Post. 11 October 1971. p. 2.
  6. "City of Lower Hutt - Declaration of Result of Election - Election of Mayor". The Evening Post. 16 October 1971. p. 44.
  7. "City of Lower Hutt - Declaration of Result of Election - Election of Councillors". The Evening Post. 16 October 1971. p. 44.

References

  • McGill, David (1991). Lower Hutt – The First Garden City. Petone, New Zealand: Lower Hutt City Council. ISBN 1-86956-003-5.
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