1989 Christchurch mayoral election

1989 Christchurch mayoral election

←  1986 14 October 1989 1992  →
Turnout	121,680 (60.56%)
Candidate Vicki Buck Morgan Fahey Margaret Murray Party Independent United Citizens Christchurch Action Popular vote 63,824 30,891 25,666 Percentage 52.45 25.39 21.09
Results by ward
Mayor before election Hamish Hay Christchurch Citizens' Association Elected mayor Vicki Buck Independent

The 1989 Christchurch mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1989, election were held for the mayor of Christchurch plus other local government positions. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post voting method.

Background

Incumbent mayor Hamish Hay had first entered the city council in 1959 and has had continuous service since then. For the last five terms, he had been mayor, and he had announced his mayoral candidacy in October 1988. Less than two months out from the election, he pulled out of the contest due to ill health. ^{[1] [2]}

There was deadlock on the city council with a four-way split in its membership. The Labour Party won a plurality of seats with seven seats, the United Citizens won seven, the new Christchurch Action ticket with six seats and the remaining three seats won by independent candidates. Prior to the election there was a schism on the right wing Citizens' Association resulting in two conservative tickets running against each other. ^[3] Christchurch Action was set up, comprising former councillors from districts that merged with the city as part of the 1989 local government reforms. ^[4]

Results

Hay was succeeded by Labour Party councillor Vicki Buck who became Christchurch's first female mayor. ^[5]

The following table gives the election results:

1989 Christchurch mayoral election ^{[6] [7] [8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Vicki Buck	63,824	52.45
	United Citizens	Morgan Fahey	30,891	25.39
	Christchurch Action	Margaret Murray	25,666	21.09
	McGillicuddy Serious	Craig Young	899	0.74
	Economic Euthenics	Tubby Hansen	400	0.33	−1.72
Informal votes			1341	1.09	−0.32
Majority			32,933	27.07
Turnout			121,680	60.56	+2.56 approx

Results by ward

Vicki Buck polled highest in all but one of the Christchurch Wards, Margaret Murray won her own Waimairi ward, while Fahey did not get a plurality in any ward, his highest polling ward being Heathcote ^[10] . Polling by The Star suggested Buck would dominate a majority of the wards although the opposing candidates disputed the figures during the campaign. ^{[11] [12]}

	Vicki Buck		Morgan Fahey		Margaret Murray		Others		Total
Ward	#	%	#	%	#	%	#	%	#
Burwood	5,885	58.80	2,269	22.67	1,782	17.80	73	0.73	10,009
Fendalton	4,884	41.99	3,546	30.49	3,126	26.88	75	0.64	11,631
Ferrymead	6,057	57.97	2,885	27.61	1,363	13.05	143	0.68	10,488
Hagley	4,382	59.14	1,906	25.27	980	13.23	142	1.92	7,410
Heathcote	5,771	53.78	3,308	30.83	1,526	14.22	125	1.16	10,730
Papanui	5,175	47.09	2,319	21.10	3,378	30.74	118	1.07	10,990
Pegasus	6,114	64.27	2,190	23.02	1,094	11.50	115	1.21	9,513
Riccarton	4,624	44.21	2,518	24.07	3,194	30.54	124	1.19	10,460
Shirley	5,307	55.89	2,861	30.13	1,239	13.05	118	0.94	9,496
Spreydon	5,399	56.56	2,772	29.04	1,269	13.29	105	1.10	9,545
Waimairi	4,446	38.56	2,093	18.15	4,916	42.64	74	0.64	11,529
Wigram	4,981	57.94	1,995	25.39	1,520	17.68	101	1.17	8,597
Total	63,824	52.45	30,891	25.39	25,666	21.09	1,299	1.07	121,680

City council election result

Main article: 1989 Christchurch City Council election

Christchurch city councillors elected

Ward	Party		Elected
Burwood		Independent	Carole Evans*
		Independent	Mike Stevens
Fendalton		United Citizens	Ron Wright*
		Action	Philip Carter
Ferrymead		United Citizens	David Cox*
		Labour	Charles Manning*
Hagley		Labour	Linda Constable*
		Labour	Denis O'Rourke*
Heathcote		United Citizens	Rex Arbuckle*
		Action	Oscar Alpers
Papanui		Papanui Independent	Gordon Freeman
		Papanui Independent	Des King
Pegasus		Labour	David Close*
		Labour	Noala Massey*
Riccarton		Action	David Buist
		Action	Derek Anderson
Shirley		United Citizens	Newton Dodge
		United Citizens	Dennis Rich*
Spreydon		United Citizens	Morgan Fahey*
		Labour	Alex Clark* [a]
Waimairi		Action	Pat Harrow
		Action	John Hanafin
Wigram		United Citizens	Mary Corbett
		Labour	Ishwar Ganda

Footnotes: * denotes incumbents

Aftermath

Buck was elected the first ever female mayor of Christchurch, and four women were elected to the council. Margaret Murray and Morgan Fahey both conceded in a friendly manner in person on the night. Fahey, her nearest opponent, became the deputy mayor.

Despite losing the mayoralty, Action performed very well and Citizens' lost its overall majority on council. There was accusation that Action split the centre-right vote and lead to no overall control on the council. Because of the Citizens' animosity towards the action team Labour and Citizens' formed an alliance on the council which resulted in Action missing out on a fair share of committee chairmanships. ^{[5] [14]}

Dennis Rich retained his position as team leader after the election, but Labour's team leader Alex Clark was replaced by Pegasus councillor David Close after Clark expressed a preference to focus on his regional council seat. Clark was also unable to secure a committee chairmanship, even in transport, despite his advocacy for a city owned bus company. ^[14]

Although Labour candidate Arthur Adcock had won on election night by a margin of 19 votes, independent Mike Stevens refused to concede and sought multiple rounds of recounts, eventually resulting in Adcock losing his seat to Stevens. ^[15] This meant Labour's election night plurality of seats was also lost. There was also legal action in the Papanui ward over the nature of election material. ^[16]

Mayor Buck initially tried to get councillors to sit in alphabetical order next to each other, however, councillors ended up moving their own name plates around to sit in party/team blocs. ^[17]

Notes

1. Clark was elected on a Labour Party ticket, but resigned from the party within a week of the election and became an independent. ^[13]

References

1. Forrester, Kay (7 June 1989). "Councillors show interest". The Press . p. 9. Retrieved 28 September 2025.
2. "Sir Hamish steps aside". The Press . 23 August 1989. p. 16. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
3. Forrester, Kay (16 October 1989). "Split council still to set battle lines". The Press . p. 1.
4. Scanlon, Sean; Crean, Mike (24 April 2004). "Cutting their ties; Two parties in control". The Press . p. D11.
5. Forrester, Kay (16 October 1989). "Chch elects first woman as Mayor". The Press . p. 1. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
6. "Mayoralty figures". The Press . 16 October 1989. p. 3.
7. "Declaration of results of elections: Christchurch City". The Press . 28 October 1989. p. 88. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
8. Robertson, Max (20 October 2004). "Report of the Electoral Officer" (PDF). Christchurch City Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 October 2008. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
9. "Sir Hamish 'survives'". The Press . 13 October 1986. p. 1.
10. "CHRISTCHURCH MAYORALTY: FINAL PRELIMINARY RESULTS". The Press . 17 October 1989. p. 7.
11. "Doubt cast on poll result". The Press . 27 September 1989. p. 1.
12. "Election 'poll that counts'". The Press . 11 October 1989. p. 1.
13. Forrester, Kay (21 October 1989). "Clark hands in his party ticket". The Press . p. 1. Retrieved 28 September 2025.
14. "Council alliance sews up top jobs". The Press . 7 November 1989. p. 1. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
15. "Public notices". The Press . 23 December 1989. p. 43. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
16. "More election legal action?". The Press . 24 November 1989. p. 7. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
17. "Council seating, top jobs arranged". The Press . 8 November 1989. p. 7. Retrieved 13 June 2024.