1986 Wellington City mayoral election

The election saw one-term Mayor Ian Lawrence defeated by local advertising agent Jim Belich. 1986 also saw the Labour Party win their first ever majority of seats on the Council.{{sfn|Franks|McAloon|2016|p=225}} Electoral reforms were implemented at the 1986 municipal elections, the method of electing councillors at large which had been used since 1901 was replaced with a ward system of local electoral districts.{{cite news |work =The Evening Post |title=Local elections on ward basis |date=9 October 1984 }}

A major issue faced by the council during the term was the increasingly unpopular practice of raw sewage discharge into the sea. The two main candidates, Lawrence and Belich, had been friends for nearly twenty years adding a more personal element to the election than normal.{{cite news |title=Mayor, Belich — old friends |work=The Dominion |date=17 February 1986 }} The two had first met in the late-1960s when Lawrence, as a member of the Jaycees, helped organise a fundraising international ball for a UNICEF, which Belich was president of. Both agreed to a "peace pact" to fight fair in the election.{{cite news |title=Pact for clean fight |work=The Evening Post |date=19 August 1986 }} Highlighting the unpopular council sewage scheme both the Labour Party and the Wellington Clean Water Campaign ran a hostile ad campaign against Lawrence and the Citizens' Association. Lawrence responded, stressing that the sewage scheme was a collective decision of the council, not a personal decision of his. In the last week of the campaign Labour launched a series of particularly controversial advertisements on Lawrence and the council. One newspaper ad showed a toilet on the beach, linking to the clean water campaign to stop raw sewage discharge at Moa Point. Lawrence was angered by the attack which reneged on a pact between the two to fight fair. Belich professed that he did not intend for any personal offence.{{cite news |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/72162572/obituary-sir-james-belich--from-adman-to-capital-cleanup-merchant |last=MacDonald |first=Nikki |date=19 September 2015 |title=Sir James Belich - from ad-man to capital clean-up merchant |publisher=Stuff |access-date=22 January 2018 }}

Ultimately Belich defeated Lawrence by over 2,000 votes, a significant turnaround from Lawrence's 8,000 vote win in 1983.{{cite news |title='New interest' as electors vote changes |work=The Dominion |date=13 October 1986 |page=1 }} The sewage issue was key to the result which Lawrence said he was both surprised and disappointed that voters judged him on that issue alone. He was also critical of the amount of campaign spending on advertising, with his opponents spending more than double what he did. The hostility of the sewage ads left him feeling bitter, but did not blame Belich personally.{{cite news |first=Anita |last=Busby |title=Lawrence bows out with a brave face |work=The Dominion |date=13 October 1986 |page=5 }}

The following table gives the election results:

{{Election box begin | title=1986 Wellington mayoral election{{cite report |last=Bly |first=Ross |date=24 October 1986 |title=Declaration of Election Results |publisher=Wellington City Council }}

}}

{{Election box winning candidate with party link

|party = New Zealand Labour Party

|candidate = Jim Belich

|votes = 18,873

|percentage = 50.58

|change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link

|party = Wellington Citizens' Association

|candidate = Ian Lawrence

|votes = 16,519

|percentage = 44.27

|change = +4.97

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link

|party = Independent politician

|candidate = Norm Thomas

|votes = 1,344

|percentage = 3.60

|change =

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link

|party = McGillicuddy Serious Party

|candidate = Mark Servian

|votes = 260

|percentage = 0.69

|change =

}}

{{Election box candidate|

|party = Private Enterprise

|color = #43A2FF

|candidate = Frank Moncur

|votes = 251

|percentage = 0.67

|change = +0.27

}}

{{Election box informal|

|votes = 294

|percentage = 0.78

|change = +0.16

}}

{{Election box majority

|votes = 2,354

|percentage = 6.30

|change =

}}

{{Election box turnout|

|votes = 37,017

|percentage = 41.77

|change = +4.18

}}

{{Election box registered electors|

|reg. electors= 89,328

}}

{{Election box end}}

{{see also|1986 Wellington City local elections}}

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

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book |last1 = Franks |first1 = Peter |last2 = McAloon |first2 = Jim |title = Labour: The New Zealand Labour Party 1916–2016 |year = 2016 |publisher = Victoria University Press |location = Wellington |isbn = 978-1-77656-074-5}}

{{Mayors of Wellington|state=autocollapse}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wellington City Mayoral Election, 1986}}

Category:Mayoral elections in Wellington

Category:1986 elections in New Zealand

Category:Politics of the Wellington Region