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| Turnout | 36,475 (48.3%) | |||||||||||||||
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The 1959 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1959, 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.
The right-leaning Citizens' Association ticket spent the three years since the last election resolving their candidate selection controversy with the intention of re-uniting themselves and their supporters to win back the mayoralty. Four people were nominated as the mayoral candidate with envelopes containing the names were passed to a fourteen member selection committee. [1] At the committee meeting Ernest Toop was once again chosen to contest the position. The other three names were not disclosed, but one of the speculated nominees (former mayor Thomas Hislop) confirmed his name was not among the nominations. [2] Despite having a clean run this time he was unable to defeat Labour's popular Frank Kitts. [3] The election also saw the debut of a new local body ticket. The Independent United Action Group stood ten council candidates under the leadership of Saul Goldsmith, though all polled poorly. It was the first time a separate ticket had been set up to challenge the long dominant Citizens' and Labour tickets. [4]
While Kitts was re-elected, Labour's council ticket fared worse with its representation being halved from six seats to three. The overall anti-Labour vote (which was consistent nationwide) was attributed to the unpopularity of the then Labour government. [5] Prime Minister Walter Nash commented simply "We seem to have held the mayoralties" in reference that in Wellington (as well as in Christchurch and Lower Hutt) Labour mayors were re-elected despite voters electing majority centre-right councils. [6] In increasing his majority over twelve percent against the national trend newspapers lauded Kitts' win as a 'personal triumph'. [7]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Frank Kitts | 18,589 | 50.97 | +12.47 | |
| Citizens' | Ernest Toop | 17,680 | 48.47 | +17.19 | |
| Informal votes | 206 | 0.56 | |||
| Majority | 909 | 2.49 | -4.73 | ||
| Turnout | 36,475 | 48.3 | +4.6 | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Citizens' | Bill Arcus | 18,908 | 51.83 | +2.45 | |
| Labour | Frank Kitts [nb 1] | 18,560 | 50.88 | -2.51 | |
| Citizens' | Harry Nankervis | 18,420 | 50.50 | +6.06 | |
| Citizens' | Noel Manthel | 17,828 | 48.87 | ||
| Citizens' | Maida Clark | 17,434 | 47.79 | ||
| Citizens' | Berkeley Dallard | 16,816 | 46.10 | +1.23 | |
| Citizens' | George Porter | 16,345 | 44.81 | ||
| Labour | Jim Bateman | 15,906 | 43.60 | -3.30 | |
| Labour | John Churchill | 15,832 | 43.40 | -3.80 | |
| Citizens' | Gordon Morrison | 15,320 | 42.00 | ||
| Citizens' | Alice Campbell | 15,174 | 41.60 | ||
| Citizens' | Ralph Brookes | 15,135 | 41.49 | ||
| Citizens' | Stewart Duff | 14,999 | 41.12 | ||
| Citizens' | Peter Howman | 14,938 | 40.95 | ||
| Citizens' | Cecil Read | 14,899 | 40.84 | ||
| Labour | Mervyn Castle | 14,854 | 40.72 | -4.98 | |
| Citizens' | John Turk | 14,248 | 39.06 | ||
| Citizens' | Gibson Scott | 14,096 | 38.64 | ||
| Citizens' | Barry Barton-Ginger | 14,091 | 38.63 | -8.94 | |
| Labour | James Roberts | 13,774 | 37.76 | -8.35 | |
| Labour | Lettie Allen | 13,664 | 37.46 | -4.68 | |
| Labour | Jack Arthurs | 12,792 | 35.07 | -4.68 | |
| Labour | Nigel Taylor | 12,181 | 33.39 | -4.67 | |
| Labour | Keith Spry | 11,947 | 32.75 | ||
| Labour | George Matthew | 11,582 | 31.75 | ||
| Independent | Bob Archibald | 11,364 | 31.15 | -16.04 | |
| Labour | Gerald O'Brien | 11,082 | 30.38 | ||
| Labour | William Rose | 10,927 | 29.95 | ||
| Labour | Edward Hodgkinson | 10,508 | 28.80 | -6.08 | |
| Labour | Charles Troghton | 9,864 | 27.04 | ||
| Labour | Allan Goldsmith | 9,798 | 26.86 | -8.44 | |
| Independent | George Cox | 9,644 | 26.44 | ||
| United Action | Saul Goldsmith | 6,959 | 19.07 | ||
| United Action | Leslie Austin | 5,285 | 14.48 | -4.40 | |
| United Action | William Barker | 4,230 | 11.59 | ||
| Independent | Annette Griffin | 4,224 | 11.58 | ||
| United Action | Stuart Caldow | 4,164 | 11.41 | ||
| United Action | George Ayson | 3,877 | 10.62 | ||
| United Action | James Burgess | 3,646 | 9.99 | ||
| United Action | Ron Brierley | 3,602 | 9.87 | ||
| United Action | Alice Coe | 3,598 | 9.86 | ||
| United Action | Patrick O'Rourke | 3,439 | 9.42 | ||
| United Action | Owen Lund | 3,393 | 9.30 | ||
| Independent | Philip Cossham | 1,604 | 4.39 | ||
| Communist | Ron Smith | 1,522 | 4.17 | ||
| Communist | Ray Nunes | 1,289 | 3.53 | ||
Table footnotes:
Sir Francis Joseph Kitts was a New Zealand politician. He was the longest-serving mayor of Wellington, holding the post from 1956 to 1974. He was the Labour Member of Parliament for Wellington Central between 1954 and 1960.
Sir Robert Lachlan Macalister was the Mayor of Wellington from 1950 to 1956, and had been the acting mayor for five months in 1948 during the absence overseas of Will Appleton.
The 1915 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1915, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington plus other local government positions including fifteen city councillors. John Luke, the incumbent Mayor, retained office tallying just ten votes fewer than he did two years earlier. The standard first-past-the-post electoral method was used to conduct polling.
The 1917 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1917, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington plus other local government positions including fifteen city councillors, also elected biannually. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.
The 1933 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1933, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington plus other local government positions including the fifteen city councillors, also elected biannually. Thomas Hislop, the incumbent Mayor sought re-election and retained office unopposed with no other candidates emerging. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.
The 1941 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1941, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington and fifteen city councillors plus seats on the Wellington Hospital Board and Wellington Harbour Board. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.
The 1944 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1944, election 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.
The Wellington Citizens' Association, was a right-leaning local body electoral ticket in Wellington, New Zealand. It was formed in 1911 by merging the selection process of council candidates of several civic interest groups and business lobby groups. Its main ambitions were to continue to control the Wellington City Council, reduce local spending and deny left-leaning Labour Party candidates being elected.
Ernest Richard Toop was a New Zealand politician and businessman.
The 1950 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1950, 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.
The 1956 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1956, 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.
The 1962 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1962, 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.
The 1965 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1965, 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.
The 1968 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1968, 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.
The 1971 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1971, 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.
The 1983 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1983, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington plus other local government positions including eighteen city councillors. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.
Cecil Henry "Matt" Benney was a New Zealand civil servant and politician.
The 1959 Lower Hutt mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. The elections were held for the role of Mayor of Lower Hutt plus other local government positions including fifteen city councillors, also elected triennially. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.
The 1971 Lower Hutt mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. The elections were held for the role of Mayor of Lower Hutt plus other local government positions including fifteen city councillors, also elected triennially. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.
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