1992 Wellington City mayoral election
10 October 1992
Turnout57,157 (53.26%)
 
Candidate Fran Wilde Helene Ritchie Ken Comber
Party Labour Independent Citizens'
Popular vote 18,795 9,715 8,751
Percentage 32.91% 17.00% 15.31%
Mayor before election

Sir Jim Belich
Labour

 Elected Mayor

Fran Wilde
Labour

The 1992 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the held that same year. In 1992, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington plus other local government roles including 21 councillors. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.

The election saw Fran Wilde, the MP for Wellington Central, elected as the new mayor of Wellington replacing incumbent Sir Jim Belich who had retired after serving two terms. Wilde became Wellington's first female mayor, defeating former Deputy Mayor Helene Ritchie and her predecessor as MP for Wellington Central Ken Comber who ran for the Citizens' Association.

Background

The Citizens' Association made a surprise choice in their candidate for mayor. The association selection panel chose former National Party MP Ken Comber as its candidate ahead of the Citizens' leader on the council Les Stephens. Also vying for the nomination were Eastern Ward councillor Ruth Gotlieb, former councillor Bryan Weyburne and previous mayor Ian Lawrence.[1] Gotlieb ran for mayor regardless unsuccessfully, but was re-elected in the Eastern Ward as an independent. Weyburne was elected to the Western Ward and Lawrence to the Regional Council while Stephens was defeated in the Onslow Ward.

Following Jim Belich's decision to retire from the mayoralty, the Labour Party chose Wellington Central MP Fran Wilde as their candidate. Initially Eastern Ward councillor Nic Dalton was favoured to replace Belich though Dalton ruled himself out of contention for both the mayoralty and council.[2][3] Attention then turned to Wilde's status as an MP with the prospect of her taking both a parliamentary and mayoral salary or the prospect of a by-election at taxpayer expense. Labour leader Mike Moore made known his preference for Wilde to remain in Parliament, offering to relieve her of portfolios to help with workload, although Wilde ultimately decided to resign from Parliament if elected mayor.[4]

Results

The following table gives the election results:

1992 Wellington mayoral election[5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Fran Wilde 18,795 32.91
Independent Helene Ritchie 9,715 17.00 -10.12
Citizens' Ken Comber 8,751 15.31
Green Stephen Rainbow 6,122 10.71
Independent Ruth Gotlieb 5,851 10.23
Independent David Bull 4,683 8.19 -0.12
Independent Rana Waitai 2,607 4.56
McGillicuddy Serious John Morrison 299 0.52 -1.41
Private Enterprise Frank Moncur 134 0.23 -0.15
Communist League Patrick Brown 112 0.19
Independent Margaret Barry-Gellen 88 0.15
Informal votes 632 1.10 -1.54
Majority 9,080 15.88
Turnout 57,157 53.26 +3.32

Results by ward

Fran Wilde polled the highest in all seven of Wellington's electoral wards.

Wards won by Wilde
Fran Wilde Helene Ritchie Ken Comber Stephen Rainbow Others Total
Ward #  % #  % #  % #  % #  % #
Eastern 3,24628.12,20019.01,90916.51,1259.73,09326.711,573
Lambton 3,03543.273710.51,02014.51,01514.41,22117.47,028
Northern 2,29529.01,81022.91,00612.76348.02,16027.47,905
Onslow 2,15134.083813.21,10117.46009.51,64425.96,334
Tawa 1,15324.692819.885618.33778.11,36629.24,680
Southern 3,85637.01,90918.31,26012.11,30812.52,09620.110,429
Western 3,04133.11,29114.01,59717.41,06011.52,21124.09,200
Total 18,79532.99,71517.08,75115.36,12210.713,77424.157,157

Ward results

Candidates were also elected from wards to the Wellington City Council.[5]

Party/ticketCouncillors
Citizens' 6
Labour 5
Greens 4
Independent 6

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Citizens pick Comber for mayoralty". The Dominion. 18 March 1992.
  2. ↑ O'Leary, Eileen (23 March 1992). "MP Wilde decides to contest mayoralty". The Evening Post.
  3. ↑ Morrison, Alistair (19 March 1992). "Labour toys with the Wilde card". The Dominion.
  4. ↑ "Moore wants Wilde to remain MP". The Dominion. 19 March 1992.
  5. 1 2 Bly, Ross (1992). City of Wellington: Local Body Elections, 1992 (Report). Wellington City Council.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.