1935 Auckland City mayoral election

1935 Auckland City mayoral election

←  1933 8 May 1935 1938  →
Turnout	37,238 (60.36%)
Candidate Ernest Davis Joe Sayegh Party Citizens Committee Labour Popular vote 14,267 13,904 Percentage 38.31 37.33
Mayor before election George Hutchison Elected mayor Ernest Davis

The 1935 Auckland City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1935, elections were held for the Mayor of Auckland plus other local government positions including twenty-one city councillors. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.

Background

The campaign featured a selection controversy when the Labour Party selected local businessman Joe Sayegh over prominent lawyer and MP Rex Mason with the blessing of Auckland Labour Representation Committee executive Fred Young. Sayegh was viewed a respectable individual and competent city councillor, but most gave him little chance of beating Citizens Committee candidate Ernest Davis. As Young had been employed by Davis for many years, John A. Lee and several Labour MPs alleged that Young had been bribed by Davis to ensure the selection of a weak Labour candidate for the Mayoralty which caused a rift in the Auckland Labour Party. ^[1] Sayegh's campaign was not helped due to continued interference by Lee who tried to discredit Sayegh, slandering him as a "dumb wop fellow who could not even speak English". ^[2] Regardless, Sayegh polled extremely well in the election, exceeding predictions and lost to Davis by only 363 votes. ^[3]

Councillor Ted Phelan had earlier declined to seek the Labour nomination for mayor, citing a conflict of interest, as he was also running the Hotel Auckland (which was owned by Davis), who had already declared his candidacy. Despite Sayegh's nomination, the returning officer received a nomination for Mason, whose consent was telegraphed from Wellington, though he later sent a second telegraph to withdraw. Ellen Melville also announced her intention to stand for mayor, but ultimately decided not to stand "in view of the confusion of issues." She successfully sought re-election to the council. ^[4]

The main talking point following the election was that the Labour Party had won a majority on the city council winning 15 of the 21 seats. This was the first (and only) time Labour had ever done so. There was also a huge turnout in voters with a record 60.36% of electors casting their votes, much higher than usual, an increase of nearly 12% from the 1933 election.

Mayoralty results

1935 Auckland mayoral election ^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Citizens Committee	Ernest Davis	14,267	38.31
	Labour	Joe Sayegh	13,904	37.33
	Independent	Arthur Stallworthy	8,569	23.01
Informal votes			498	1.33	−0.85
Majority			363	0.97
Turnout			37,238	60.36	+11.58

Councillor results

1935 Auckland local election ^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Joe Sayegh	18,090	59.82	+16.61
	Labour	Ted Phelan	17,603	58.21	+9.99
	Labour	John Albert Mason	16,462	54.44	+11.11
	Labour	Arthur Rosser	16,238	53.70	+14.73
	Labour	Bill Anderton	16,205	53.59	+12.79
	Labour	John William Yarnall	15,266	50.48	+11.08
	Labour	Charles Bailey	15,231	50.37	+10.02
	Labour	Ernest Frank Andrews	14,904	49.28	+8.89
	Citizens Committee	Leonard Coakley	14,449	47.78	+2.09
	Labour	Peter Carr	13,882	45.90
	Citizens Committee	Sir George Richardson	13,774	45.55
	Independent	Tom Bloodworth	13,406	44.33	+2.60
	Labour	Bernard Martin	13,346	44.13	+8.27
	Labour	John Stewart	13,199	43.65	+7.76
	Labour	John Thomas Jennings	13,153	43.49	+8.00
	Citizens Committee	James Donald	13,085	43.27	−0.16
	Labour	George Gordon Grant	13,015	43.04	+5.65
	Citizens Committee	Ellen Melville	12,809	42.36	+2.55
	Labour	Norman Douglas	12,740	42.13
	Citizens Committee	Harold Percy Burton	12,729	42.09	−3.03
	Labour	Frank Lark	12,721	42.06
	Citizens Committee	Alice Basten	12,584	41.61	±0.00
	Labour	Jim Purtell	12,478	41.26	+4.34
	Labour	Paul Richardson	12,430	41.10
	Labour	Jack Lyon	12,401	41.01
	Labour	Charles Stephen Morris	12,074	39.92	+5.46
	Citizens Committee	Michael John Coyle	11,876	39.27	−2.63
	Citizens Committee	Sidney Takle	11,754	38.87	−0.94
	Labour	Hannah Harrison	11,746	38.84
	Labour	Harry Gordon Staley	11,699	38.68
	Citizens Committee	Matthew John Bennett	11,647	38.51	−2.79
	Citizens Committee	Christopher H. Furness	11,603	38.37
	Citizens Committee	George Grey Campbell	11,496	38.01	−9.26
	Citizens Committee	John Barr Patterson	11,300	37.37	−3.62
	Citizens Committee	John Walter Hollis	10,918	36.10
	Citizens Committee	Bryan Hislop Kingston	10,521	34.79
	Citizens Committee	Alan Monteith Doull	9,554	31.59
	Citizens Committee	George Cruickshank	9,482	31.35
	Citizens Committee	Augustus Charles Norden	9,316	30.80
	Citizens Committee	John W. Kealy	9,263	30.63
	Citizens Committee	David Henry	9,190	30.39
	Independent	Dawson Donaldson	9,017	29.82	−9.26
	Citizens Committee	Robert Gordon Slyfield	8,805	29.11	−3.43
	Citizens Committee	Herbert Tiarks	8,034	26.56
	Citizens Committee	George Frederick Lane	7,717	25.52
	Independent	John Lundon	6,375	21.08	−4.30
	Independent	Alfred Hall Skelton	6,235	20.61
	Independent	Isidor Meltzer	6,235	20.61
	Independent	Walter Harry Murray	5,987	19.79	−9.53
	Independent	William Henry Horton	5,742	18.98
	Independent	Arnold Ellis Ely	5,328	17.62
	Communist	Jim Edwards	4,133	13.66
	Communist	Alexander Drennan	2,535	8.38
	Communist	Henry Mornington Smith	2,429	8.03
	Independent	Maungatai Julia Babbington	2,307	7.62
	Independent	William James Crook	2,266	7.49
	Independent	Edward Thurlow Field	1,947	6.43
	Independent	James William Payne	1,742	5.76

Notes

1. Gustafson 1986, p. 160-2.
2. Gustafson 1986, p. 161.
3. "Official Counts". The Auckland Star . No. 111. 13 May 1935. p. 8. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
4. "Civic Elections". The Auckland Star . Vol. LXVI, no. 96. 24 April 1935. p. 10. Retrieved 10 February 2018.
5. "Electoral". Vol. LXXII, no. 22108. The New Zealand Herald. 14 May 1935. p. 16. Retrieved 10 February 2018.

References

• Gustafson, Barry (1986). From the Cradle to the Grave: a biography of Michael Joseph Savage. Auckland: Reed Methuen. ISBN   0-474-00138-5.