Sydenham by-election, 1974

Sydenham by-election, 1974
2 November 1975 (1975-11-02)

 
Candidate John Kirk Joe Poundsford
Party Labour Social Credit
Popular vote 6,664 1,778
Percentage 62.9% 16.8%
Member before election

Norman Kirk
Labour

 Elected Member

John Kirk
Labour

The Sydenham by-election 1974 was a by-election held in the Sydenham electorate during the term of the 37th New Zealand Parliament on 2 November 1974.

The by-election was caused by the death of incumbent MP Norman Kirk of the Labour Party, who at the time was Prime Minister, on 31 August 1974.[1][2] The by-election was won by John Kirk, Norman Kirk's son.[2] It was New Zealand's first parliamentary election where a voting age of 18 years applied.[3]

Candidates

In 1974 Gerald O'Brien the party vice-president was on the panel to choose the successor to Norman Kirk in Sydenham. Initially the three electorate representatives wanted John Kirk and the three head office nominees wanted the party secretary John Wybrow. O'Brien switched his vote to John Kirk, who got the nod.[4] Kirk had talked to Warren Freer very frankly about his family, and made it quite clear that if any of his sons wished to have a political career, he hoped it would be Robert or Philip, but not John.[5]

The National Party decided not to stand a candidate, although previous National candidate Saul Goldsmith from Wellington stood as an Independent National candidate.[6]

Results

The table below contains the election results:

Sydenham by-election, 1974[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labour John Kirk 6,664 62.86
Social Credit Joe Poundsford 1,778 16.77
Values Andrew Lea 685 6.46
Independent National Saul Goldsmith 684 6.45
Independent D J Crawford 321 3.02
Christian Independent T C Fouhy 274 2.58
Socialist Action Kay Goodger 181 1.70
Progressive Kiwi David Mitchell 13 0.12
Informal votes 101 0.95
Majority 4,886 46.09
Turnout 10,600 51.88 -37.69
Registered electors 20,428
Labour hold Swing

Notes

  1. ↑ Bassett, Michael. "Kirk, Norman Eric". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 22 February 2016.
  2. 1 2 Wilson 1985, p. 211.
  3. ↑ Jackson and McRobie 2005, p. xliv.
  4. ↑ Grant 2014, p. 420.
  5. ↑ Freer 2004, pp. 185, 202.
  6. ↑ Traue 1978, p. 124.
  7. ↑ Norton 1988, p. 351.

References

  • Freer, Warren W (2004). A Lifetime in Politics: the memoirs of Warren Freer. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 0-86473-478-6.
  • Grant, David (2014). The Mighty Totara: The life and times of Norman Kirk. Auckland: Random House. ISBN 9781775535799.
  • Jackson, William Keith; McRobie, Alan (2005). "Chronology". Historical dictionary of New Zealand (PDF) (second ed.). Scarecrow Press. p. xliv. Retrieved 5 May 2013.
  • Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946-1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.
  • Traue, James Edward (1978). Who's Who in New Zealand, 1978 (11th ed.). Wellington: Reed Publishing.
  • Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand parliamentary record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.