1935 Wellington mayoral election

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1935 Wellington City mayoral election
Flag of New Zealand.svg
  1933 7 May 1935 1938  
Turnout41,139 (60.49%)
  Thomas Charles Atkinson Hislop.jpg Bob Semple, 1935.jpg
Candidate Thomas Hislop Bob Semple
Party Citizens' Labour
Popular vote21,58319,249
Percentage52.4646.79

Mayor before election

Thomas Hislop

Elected mayor

Thomas Hislop

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

Contents

Background

Incumbent mayor Thomas Hislop stood for a third-term, the first mayor to do so since Sir John Luke in 1915. His opponent was Bob Semple, a Labour councillor and MP for Wellington East. During the campaign, Semple received slanderous allegations of being an Atheist, which he denied stating "If the people of the world followed the philosophy of Jesus there would be no poverty...". [1]

For the second election in a row, Labour won a majority of the vote, but could not win a majority of seats. [2] However, Labour did win one more seat than in 1933 and then went on to win a by-election soon after increase their representation further. [3]

Mayoralty results

1935 Wellington mayoral election [4]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Citizens' Thomas Hislop 21,583 52.46
Labour Bob Semple 19,24946.79
Informal votes3070.74
Majority 2,3345.67
Turnout 41,13960.49

Councillor results

1935 Wellington City Council election [5]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Peter Fraser 28,362 68.94 +20.30
Labour Charles Chapman 26,049 63.31 −3.11
Labour Robert McKeen 25,571 62.15 −2.22
Citizens' Robert Wright 22,450 54.57 +7.26
Labour Peter Butler 20,646 50.18 +6.32
Labour Tom Brindle 20,345 49.45 +3.56
Citizens' William Bennett 19,930 48.44 −4.10
Citizens' John Burns 19,063 46.33 +1.88
Citizens' Will Appleton 19,036 46.27 −1.95
Citizens' William Gaudin 18,944 46.04 −6.85
Citizens' Martin Luckie 18,616 45.25 −3.54
Citizens' Len McKenzie 18,579 45.16 −2.85
Labour Adam Black 18,559 45.11 +4.88
Citizens' Herbert Huggins 18,467 44.88 −2.27
Citizens' William Duncan 18,309 44.50 −2.43
Labour Andrew Parlane [nb 1] 18,27144.41+1.75
Labour Alexander Croskery 18,14344.10
Labour Michael Reardon 18,04343.85
Citizens' Thomas Forsyth 17,82743.33−3.16
Labour John Read 17,64842.89
Labour Jim Collins17,32742.11+1.57
Labour Michael Walsh16,97041.25+1.46
Labour John Tucker16,96341.23+1.99
Citizens' Robert Macalister 16,89241.06−2.23
Labour Caryll Hay16,34339.72+0.90
Labour James Ranson16,27039.54−0.21
Citizens' Paul Hoskins15,59237.90+3.94
Communist Charlie Brooks3,3108.04
Communist John Joseph Robinson2,9947.27
Communist Connie Rawcliffe 2,6956.55
Communist Albert Birchfield2,6806.51
Communist Miles Ormerod2,1535.23

Table footnotes:

  1. Parlane was appointed to fill the vacancy on the council in 1936 caused by Peter Fraser's resignation [6]

Notes

  1. Hickey, Carina (2010). From Coal Pit to Leather Pit: Life Stories of Robert Semple (PDF) (PhD). Massey University . Retrieved 26 May 2018.
  2. Betts 1970, pp. 146.
  3. "Labour Victory". The Evening Post . Vol. CXXII, no. 110. 5 November 1936. p. 10. Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  4. "The Mayoral Issue". The Evening Post . Vol. CXIX, no. 110. 11 May 1935. p. 10. Retrieved 22 March 2019.
  5. "Wellington City Council". The Evening Post . Vol. CXIX, no. 119. 22 May 1935. p. 3.
  6. "No by-election". The Evening Post . Vol. CXXI, no. 109. 9 May 1936. p. 10. Retrieved 29 June 2018.

References