1974 Wellington City mayoral election

The 1974 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1974, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington plus other local government positions including eighteen city councillors. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.

1974 Wellington City mayoral election
12 October 1974
Turnout36,212 (43.12%)
 
Candidate Michael Fowler Sir Frank Kitts Tony Brunt
Party Citizens' Labour Values
Popular vote 14,980 14,613 5,559
Percentage 41.36 40.35 15.35
Mayor before election

Sir Frank Kitts

 Elected Mayor

Michael Fowler

Background

The 1974 election was famous for its close result. With a provisional majority that was small enough to be potentially eroded by special votes the final result was not known for nearly a month following several re-counts due to the closeness of the polling. Michael Fowler had an election night lead of 387 while over 4,000 special votes were cast which ended up being very evenly distributed between the two top contenders.[1] In the end Fowlers majority was reduced by only 20 votes and he was duly declared elected as Wellington's new mayor.[2] Sir Frank Kitts lost the Mayoralty after a record 18 years in the role, though he was still re-elected to the Wellington Harbour Board.

The election saw the entry of the environmentalist Values Party into civic politics in Wellington, making it the second nationwide political party to participate in local elections. The Values Party did better than expected with party founder Tony Brunt elected to the council, the first successful third party candidate in Wellington history. Brunt also stood for Mayor with his candidacy drawing away many left-wing voters from the Labour Party. Outgoing Mayor Frank Kitts was to blame the Values vote for his defeat.[3]

Mayoralty results
1974 Wellington mayoral election[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Citizens' Michael Fowler 14,980 41.36
Labour Sir Frank Kitts 14,613 40.35 -23.4
Values Tony Brunt 5,559 15.35
Independent Saul Goldsmith 768 2.12
Independent Margaret Gellen 292 0.80
Majority 367 1.01
Turnout 36,212 43.12 -1.28

Councillor results
1974 Wellington City Council election[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Citizens' Michael Fowler[nb 1] 15,670 53.27 +10.33
Labour David Shand 13,910 48.41 +2.57
Citizens' Stewart Duff 13,402 47.00 -4.72
Citizens' Betty Campbell 12,471 44.43 -4.82
Citizens' Denis Foot 12,235 43.78 +1.79
Citizens' Ian Lawrence 12,041 43.25 +5.43
Labour Bill Jeffries 11,683 42.26
Citizens' Ron Button 11,202 40.93 +1.05
Values Tony Brunt 11,030 40.45
Citizens' Audrey MacIntyre 10,923 40.16
Citizens' Les Chapman 10,576 39.20 -1.27
Labour Keith Spry 10,390 38.69 -5.62
Citizens' Rosemary Young 10,085 37.84
Labour Joe Aspell 9,876 37.27 -0.50
Citizens' Irvine Yardley 9,539 36.34
Labour Brian O'Brien 9,473 36.15 -5.25
Citizens' Des Hoskins 9,447 36.08
Citizens' John Wootton 9,397 35.94
Labour Matthew Bennett 9,210 35.43
Labour Barbara Holt 9,209 35.43
Citizens' Bruce Harris 8,973 34.77
Citizens' Jim McMillain 8,827 34.37
Labour Molly Bleakley 8,319 32.97
Citizens' George Nicholls 8,312 32.95
Labour Lani Tupu 8,173 32.56
Labour Ian Haldane 8,095 32.35
Labour Pat Brockie 8,038 32.19 -1.95
Labour Alane Hill 7,988 32.05
Citizens' Ralph Miller 7,968 32.00
Citizens' Peter Mills 7,917 31.86
Labour Angela Sears 7,684 31.21
Labour Sue Piper 7,664 31.16
Labour John Morgan 7,146 29.73
Labour David Walker 6,995 29.31
Labour John Ulrich 6,595 28.21
Values Des Kelly 6,330 27.48
Values Annabel McLaren 6,026 26.64
Values Terry McDavitt 5,755 25.89
Independent Citizens' Saul Goldsmith 5,368 24.82 +5.70
Independent Gordon Morrison 4,574 22.63
Independent Ron England 3,212 18.86 +10.52
Independent William Emsley 3,205 18.85
Independent Citizens' Donald McPherson 2,976 18.21 +11.21
Liberal Bill O'Brien 2,829 17.81
Independent Citizens' Frank Moncur 1,975 15.45 +12.12
Independent Labour Kenneth Marlow 1,785 14.92

Table footnotes:

  1. As Fowler won the Mayoralty his election to the council was voided and his seat was awarded to the highest polling unsuccessful candidate.

References
  1. "Kitts has chance to catch Fowler". The Dominion. 1 November 1974.
  2. "Long wait ends with Mr E M C Fowler confirmed as new Mayor". The Evening Post. 6 November 1974.
  3. "Values Eye No. 1 City Job". The Dominion. 20 April 1977.
  4. "City Council". The Dominion. 14 October 1974.
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