1992 Wellington City mayoral election
{{short description|New Zealand mayoral election}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2016}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 1992 Wellington City mayoral election
| country = New Zealand
| flag_image = Wellington Coat Of Arms.svg
| type = Presidential
| ongoing = no
| previous_election = 1989 Wellington City mayoral election
| previous_year = 1989
| next_election = 1995 Wellington City mayoral election
| next_year = 1995
| election_date = 10 October 1992
| turnout = 57,157 (53.26%)
| image1 = 150x150px
| candidate1 = Fran Wilde
| party1 = New Zealand Labour Party
| popular_vote1 = 18,795
| percentage1 = 32.91%
| image2 = 150x150px
| candidate2 = Helene Ritchie
| party2 = Independent politician
| popular_vote2 = 9,715
| percentage2 = 17.00%
| image3 = 150x150px
| candidate3 = Ken Comber
| party3 = Wellington Citizens' Association
| popular_vote3 = 8,751
| percentage3 = 15.31%
| map_image =
| map_size =
| map_caption =
| title = Mayor
| before_election = Sir Jim Belich
| before_party = New Zealand Labour Party
| after_election = Fran Wilde
| after_party = New Zealand Labour Party
}}
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
In November 1991, former Deputy Mayor Helene Ritchie, was the first person to declare their candidacy.{{cite news |last=Finnegan |first=Annette |title=Ritchie joins mayoral hopefuls |work=The Evening Post |date=12 November 1991 |page=1 }} The next day incumbent mayor, Sir Jim Belich, made inferences that he was considering standing for a third term. He would not rule out standing for re-election, but stated he would not make a final decision until February.{{cite news |last=Moran |first=Paul |work=The Dominion |title=Belich indicates he may stand again |date=13 November 1991 }} This was a surprise given Belich stated when he was first elected in 1986 that he wished to serve for only two terms. Ultimately Belich cited this pledge as his main reason when he decided not to stand again. He stated "I said if I couldn't do in six years what was in my power to do I'm not sure I could do more in nine. The main things on my agenda, formed after my election, have been done."{{cite news |last=Gosling |first=Martyn |title=Belich to quit mayoralty in October with few regrets |work=The Dominion |date=3 March 1992 }}
Following 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.{{cite news |last=O'Leary |first=Eileen |work=The Evening Post |title=MP Wilde decides to contest mayoralty |date=23 March 1992 }}{{cite news |last=Morrison |first=Alistair |work=The Dominion |title=Labour toys with the Wilde card |date=19 March 1992 }} 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.{{cite news |work=The Dominion |title=Moore wants Wilde to remain MP |date=19 March 1992 }}
The Citizens' Association had no shortage of people interested in being their mayoral candidate. Citizens' leader on the council Les Stephens, Eastern ward councillor Ruth Gotlieb, former councillor Bryan Weyburne, ex-deputy mayor Gavin Wilson and previous mayor Ian Lawrence were all approached by the selection committee. Insurance executive Boyd Klap, broadcaster Sharon Crosbie, management executive Basil Logan as well as two former National Party MPs, Ken Comber and Tony Friedlander, also spoke to Citizens' selectors.{{cite news |title=Belich undecided on bid |work=The Dominion |date=29 February 1992 }} Five names (Comber, Gotlieb, Lawrence, Stephens and Weyburne) went forward for the final selection panel. The association made a surprise choice, choosing Comber as their candidate for mayor.{{cite news |title=Citizens pick Comber for mayoralty |work=The Dominion |date=18 March 1992 }} Gotlieb ran for mayor and council regardless as an independent. Stephens in the Onslow ward, Weyburne ran in the Western ward and Lawrence for the Wellington Regional Council. Former Citizens' councillor David Bull ran for mayor again after breaking withe the ticket in 1989.{{cite news |title=Bull to seek mayoralty as independent candidate |work=The Dominion |date=4 May 1992 }}
Results
The following table gives the election results:
{{Election box begin | title=1992 Wellington mayoral election{{cite report |last=Bly |first=Ross |date=1992 |title=City of Wellington: Local Body Elections, 1992 |publisher=Wellington City Council }}{{cite news |title=Declaration of Results of Elections - City of Wellington - Mayor |work=The Evening Post |date=17 October 1992 |page=39 }}
}}
{{Election box winning candidate with party link|
|party = New Zealand Labour Party
|candidate = Fran Wilde
|votes = 18,795
|percentage = 32.91
|change =
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party=Independent politician
|candidate=Helene Ritchie
|votes=9,715
|percentage=17.00
|change=-10.12
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party=Wellington Citizens' Association
|candidate=Ken Comber
|votes=8,751
|percentage=15.31
|change=
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party=Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
|candidate=Stephen Rainbow
|votes=6,122
|percentage=10.71
|change=
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party=Independent politician
|candidate=Ruth Gotlieb
|votes=5,851
|percentage=10.23
|change=
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party=Independent politician
|candidate=David Bull
|votes=4,683
|percentage=8.19
|change=-0.12
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party=Independent politician
|candidate=Rana Waitai
|votes=2,607
|percentage=4.56
|change=
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link||party=McGillicuddy Serious Party
|candidate=John Morrison
|votes=299
|percentage=0.52
|change=-1.41
}}
{{Election box candidate|
|party = Private Enterprise
|color = #43A2FF
|candidate = Frank Moncur
|votes = 134
|percentage = 0.23
|change = -0.15
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party=Communist League (New Zealand)
|candidate=Patrick Brown
|votes=112
|percentage=0.19
|change=
}}
{{Election box candidate with party link|
|party=Independent politician
|candidate=Margaret Barry-Gellen
|votes=88
|percentage=0.15
|change=
}}
{{Election box informal|
|votes = 632
|percentage = 1.10
|change = -1.54
}}
{{Election box majority|
|votes=9,080
|percentage=15.88
|change=
}}
{{Election box turnout|
|votes=57,157
|percentage=53.26
|change=+3.32
}}
{{Election box end}}
=Results by ward=
Fran Wilde polled the highest in all seven of Wellington's electoral wards.
{{clear}}
| class="wikitable" |
| bgcolor="#FFBAA8"
|Wards won by Wilde |
| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right;"
! | ! scope="col" align=center colspan=2 | Fran Wilde ! scope="col" align=center colspan=2 | Helene Ritchie ! scope="col" align=center colspan=2 | Ken Comber ! scope="col" align=center colspan=2 | Stephen Rainbow ! scope="col" align=center colspan=2 | Others ! scope="col" align=center colspan=2 | Total | ||||||||||
| scope="col" align=center | Ward
! scope="col" style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" data-sort-type="number" | # ! scope="col" align=center data-sort-type="number" | % ! scope="col" style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" data-sort-type="number" | # ! scope="col" align=center data-sort-type="number" | % ! scope="col" style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" data-sort-type="number" | # ! scope="col" align=center data-sort-type="number" | % ! scope="col" style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" data-sort-type="number" | # ! scope="col" align=center data-sort-type="number" | % ! scope="col" style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" data-sort-type="number" | # ! scope="col" align=center data-sort-type="number" | % ! scope="col" style="text-align:center; font-size: 60%" data-sort-type="number" | # | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| bgcolor="#FFBAA8"
!scope="row" style="text-align:left;"|Eastern | 3,246 | 28.1 | 2,200 | 19.0 | 1,909 | 16.5 | 1,125 | 9.7 | 3,093 | 26.7 | 11,573 |
| bgcolor="#FFBAA8"
!scope="row" style="text-align:left;"|Lambton | 3,035 | 43.2 | 737 | 10.5 | 1,020 | 14.5 | 1,015 | 14.4 | 1,221 | 17.4 | 7,028 |
| bgcolor="#FFBAA8"
!scope="row" style="text-align:left;"|Northern | 2,295 | 29.0 | 1,810 | 22.9 | 1,006 | 12.7 | 634 | 8.0 | 2,160 | 27.4 | 7,905 |
| bgcolor="#FFBAA8"
!scope="row" style="text-align:left;"|Onslow | 2,151 | 34.0 | 838 | 13.2 | 1,101 | 17.4 | 600 | 9.5 | 1,644 | 25.9 | 6,334 |
| bgcolor="#FFBAA8"
!scope="row" style="text-align:left;"|Tawa | 1,153 | 24.6 | 928 | 19.8 | 856 | 18.3 | 377 | 8.1 | 1,366 | 29.2 | 4,680 |
| bgcolor="#FFBAA8"
!scope="row" style="text-align:left;"|Southern | 3,856 | 37.0 | 1,909 | 18.3 | 1,260 | 12.1 | 1,308 | 12.5 | 2,096 | 20.1 | 10,429 |
| bgcolor="#FFBAA8"
!scope="row" style="text-align:left;"|Western | 3,041 | 33.1 | 1,291 | 14.0 | 1,597 | 17.4 | 1,060 | 11.5 | 2,211 | 24.0 | 9,200 |
| scope="row" style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Z"|Total
|data-sort-value="Z"| 18,795 || 32.9 || 9,715 || 17.0 || 8,751 || 15.3 || 6,122 || 10.7 || 13,774 || 24.1 || 57,157 |
Ward results
{{see also|1992 Wellington City local elections}}
Candidates were also elected from wards to the Wellington City Council.
| class="wikitable" | |
| colspan=2 | Party/ticket | Councillors |
|---|---|
| style="background:#B8BFFE"| | Citizens'
|style="text-align: center;"| 6 |
| style="background:#DC241f"| | Labour
|style="text-align: center;"| 5 |
| style="background:#098137"| | Greens
|style="text-align: center;"| 4 |
| style="background:#DDDDDD"| | Independent
|style="text-align: center;"| 6 |
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Mayors of Wellington|state=autocollapse}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wellington City Mayoral Election, 1992}}
Category:Mayoral elections in Wellington
Category:1992 elections in New Zealand