1901 Wellington City mayoral election

1901 Wellington City mayoral election

←  1899 25 April 1901 1902  →
Turnout	8,533 (62.46%)
Candidate John Aitken Thomas Wilford Party Independent Independent Liberal Popular vote 5,801 2,732 Percentage 67.98 32.02
Mayor before election John Aitken Elected mayor John Aitken

The 1901Wellington mayoral election was a local election held on 24 April in Wellington, New Zealand, as part of that year's city council election and nation-wide local elections. Voters elected the mayor of Wellington for a one year term. In person voting and the first-past-the-post voting system were used.

John Aitken, the incumbent Mayor, was re-elected to office as Mayor of Wellington, beating Thomas Wilford.

Background

Electoral reforms were implemented in 1901, which extended the municipal term for councillors to biennial terms and saw the abolition of the ward system, implementing the process of electing councillors at large instead. ^[1] Under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1900 mayors were still to be elected annually and fixed elections to the last Wednesday in April (rather than in November). The Act delayed the introduction of the new system until April 1901 meaning there was no mayoral election in 1900. ^[2]

Mayoralty results

1901 Wellington mayoral election ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	John Aitken	5,801	67.98	+16.65
	Independent Liberal	Thomas Wilford	2,732	32.02
Majority			3,069	35.96	+14.96
Turnout			8,533	62.46	+23.06

Notes

1. Betts 1970, pp. 39.
2. "Municipal Corporations Act 1900". New Zealand Parliament. 1900. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
3. "Wellington City Council". The Free Lance. Vol. I, no. 43. 27 April 1901. p. 11. Retrieved 11 March 2016.

References

• Betts, George (1970). Betts on Wellington: A City and its Politics. Wellington: A. H. & A. W. Reed Ltd. ISBN   0 589 00469 7.