Wellington Central by-election, 1992

Wellington Central by-election, 1992
New Zealand
12 December 1992 (1992-12-12)
Turnout 15,644 (63.30%)

 
Candidate Chris Laidlaw Pauline Gardiner Denis Welch
Party Labour National Alliance
Popular vote 6,075 5,220 3,407
Percentage 38.83 33.37 21.78

Wellington Central electorate boundaries used for the by-election
Member before election

Fran Wilde
Labour

 Elected Member

Chris Laidlaw
Labour

The Wellington Central by-election 1992 was a by-election held in the Wellington Central electorate during the 43rd New Zealand Parliament, on 12 December 1992. It was caused by the resignation of incumbent MP Fran Wilde after her election as mayor of Wellington and was won by Chris Laidlaw with a majority of 855.[1]

Background and candidates

Labour

Although Labour were gaining ground in opinion polls, the party was cautious on the heels of the recent Tamaki by-election where their candidate finished a distant third. Leader Mike Moore said that the quality of the candidates would be "absolutely crucial" to deciding the outcome.[2]

Labour's candidate in the Tamaki by-election, Verna Smith, was "interested" in standing though decided to put her efforts into winning the candidacy for Titirangi in the lead up to the 1993 general election.[2] Past President of the Public Service Association, Sue Piper contemplated standing.[2] Former All Black Chris Laidlaw expressed his interest in standing for the seat immediately. He then held the position of New Zealand's Race Relations Conciliator.[2][3]

National

National's candidate from the 1990 general election Pauline Gardiner (who lost by only 246 votes) announced she intended to stand again for the seat.[2] The other nomination for the National candidacy was British-born Barbara Stones, a nursing lecturer at Wellington Polytechnic[4] Another ex-All Black, David Kirk, was approached by National to stand for the seat, though he declined nomination.[4] Wellington City Councillor Rex Nicholls, who regained a seat on the council in 1992 after failing to win the Mayoralty in 1989, also considered standing.[3]

Alliance

The Green Party candidate from the previous election, Stephen Rainbow said he would not contest the seat again as he was opposed to the Green Party's decision to join the Alliance.[2] As the Green Party vote was significantly higher than both NewLabour and the Democrat parties combined, a Green candidate was viewed as the Alliance's best route to gaining the seat.

Green Party city councillor Sue Kedgley was approached to stand, but she declined.[2] Karen Roper, a policy manager at the Public Service Association was also contacted for nomination. She had previously contested the Wellington Central seat in the 1978 general election for the Values Party.[5][4] Another former Values Party candidate, Denis Welch was ultimately chosen as the Alliance candidate. Welch contested Miramar, also in the 1978 general election.[6]

Previous election

General election, 1990: Wellington Central[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Fran Wilde 9,069 41.39
National Pauline Gardiner 8,823 40.26
Green Stephen Rainbow 3,164 14.45
NewLabour Jeff Montgomery 604 2.76
McGillicuddy Serious P P Clarke 175 0.80
Democrats R Henderson 49 0.22
Communist League Janet Roth 29 0.13
Majority 246 1.12
Turnout 21,913 88.67
Registered electors 24,714

Results

The following table gives the election results:

Wellington Central by-election, 1992
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour Chris Laidlaw 6,075 38.83 -2.55
National Pauline Gardiner 5,220 33.37 -6.90
Alliance Denis Welch 3,407 21.78 +4.361
Independent David Stevenson 389 2.49
Natural Law Ian Douglas 263 1.68
Christian Heritage Wayne Chapman 154 0.98
Independent Tim Shadbolt 64 0.41
Wizard Party Anthony Catford 40 0.26
Values John Carter 17 0.11
Communist League Felicty Coggan 14 0.09
Christ's Ambassadors Union Victor Bryers 1 0.01
Majority 855 5.47 +4.34
Turnout 15,644 63.302 -25.372
Labour hold Swing

1 Alliance vote change from 3,817 combined vote for Green Party, NewLabour and Democrats in 1990 election.

2 Based on 1990 election figures.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "By-election Special". The Evening Post. 14 December 1992. pp. 23–24.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Collins, Simon (12 October 1992). "Mayoral win opens up byelection". The New Zealand Herald. p. 1.
  3. 1 2 Orsman, Bernard (14 October 1992). "Laidlaw tests the wind". The New Zealand Herald. p. 5.
  4. 1 2 3 Orsman, Bernard (13 October 1992). "Candidates sought for affluent voters". The New Zealand Herald. p. 2.
  5. ↑ Norton 1988, pp. 387.
  6. ↑ Norton 1988, pp. 278.
  7. ↑ Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1990.

References

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