Mount Albert by-election, 1947

Mount Albert by-election, 1947

24 September 1947 (1947-09-24)
The Mount Albert seat in the House of Representatives. Election by simple majority using first-past-the-post voting.
Turnout	87.1%
Candidate Warren Freer Jack Garland Party Labour National Popular vote 7,235 5,682 Percentage 56% 44%
Member before election Arthur Richards Labour Elected Member Warren Freer Labour

The 1947 Mount Albert by-election was a by-election held during the 28th New Zealand Parliament in the Auckland electorate of Mount Albert. The by-election occurred following the death of MP Arthur Richards and was won by Warren Freer.

Background

Arthur Richards, who was first elected to represent Roskill for the Labour Party in 1931, died on 5 August 1947. This triggered the Mount Albert by-election, which occurred on 24 September 1947. Warren Freer was the candidate for the Labour Party, and J. C. Garland was the candidate for the National Party.

Freer obtained 56% of the votes and was successful.^[1] Richards had urged Freer (who had stood for Eden in 1946 election), to stand for the safe Labour seat of Mt Albert when he died. Freer was only 26 and relatively unknown to executive members, but local supporter Dick Barter convinced Peter Fraser that his work in Eden was adequate apprenticeship. Freer recalled two inspiring byelection speeches by Martyn Finlay and Mabel Howard, and was staggered when his majority was close to that of Richards in 1946, rather than being well below (as for most byelections).^[2]

Previous election

Results

The following table gives the election results:

See also

• List of New Zealand by-elections
• Mount Albert by-election, 2009

Notes

References

• Freer, Warren (2004). A Lifetime in Politics: the memoirs of Warren Freer. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 0-86473-478-6. 
• Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand parliamentary election results, 1946–1987. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington Department of Political Science. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.