1940 Auckland West by-election

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1940 Auckland West by-election
Flag of New Zealand.svg
  1938 general 18 May 1940 (1940-05-18) 1943 general  
Turnout8,136 (60.03%)
  Peter Carr.png Wilfred Fortune 1950.jpg
Candidate Peter Carr Wilfred Fortune
Party Labour Independent
Popular vote6,1512,958
Percentage63.2430.41

MP before election

Michael Joseph Savage
Labour

Elected MP

Peter Carr
Labour

The Auckland West by-election of 1940 was a by-election for the electorate of Auckland West held on 18 May 1940 during the 26th New Zealand Parliament. The by-election resulted from the death on 27 March 1940 of the previous member Michael Joseph Savage, the revered prime minister whose terminal illness had not been made public.

Contents

Background

The by-election was won by Peter Carr; also of the Labour Party. The other aspirants for the Labour nomination were Charles Bailey, Mary Dreaver, L. W. Holt, N. E. Herring, John Thomas Jennings, Thomas Percival McCready, Winnifred Moore, Joe Sayegh, John Stewart and Jeremiah James Sullivan. [1]

Because of the war, the National Party did not nominate a candidate, and four of the five candidates who stood against the Labour candidate lost their deposit. The freshly forged Democratic Labour Party (DLP) by expelled Labour rebel John A. Lee also abstained from contesting. Lee's chief lieutenant Norman Douglas was approached by the DLP to contest the by-election in an effort to boost the new party's publicity, but Douglas declined to stand. [2]

Results

The following table gives the election results:

1940 Auckland West by-election [3]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labour Peter Carr 6,151 63.24
Independent Wilfred Fortune 2,95830.41
Communist Gordon Watson 3753.86
Independent Socialist Lawrence Pickles1321.36
Liberal Joseph Kennedy150.15
Independent Enoch Naden80.08
Informal votes680.70+0.05
Majority3,19332.83
Turnout 8,13660.03-29.73
Registered electors 16,170
Labour hold Swing

Four of the six candidates lost their deposits. [4]

In 1946, Carr also died in office. Wilfred Fortune, who stood as an independent, subsequently became a National candidate (1943) and MP (1946) for the Eden electorate.

Notes

  1. "Mr. Carr Is Labour Choice For Auckland W." Northern Advocate . 26 April 1940. p. 7. Retrieved 16 January 2019 via Papers Past.
  2. Olssen 1978, pp. 49.
  3. "Declaration of Results". Auckland Star . Vol. LXXI, no. 125. 28 May 1940. p. 3. Retrieved 2 September 2016.
  4. "Four Lose Deposits". Auckland Star . 20 May 1940. p. 5.

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References