1974 Sydenham by-election

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.

1974 Sydenham by-election
2 November 1975 (1975-11-02)
Turnout10,600 (51.88%)
 
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

Background

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] Sydenham was an electorate in Christchurch and was a safe Labour seat, the party having held it since its recreation in 1946. This was New Zealand's first parliamentary election with a voting age of 18 years.[3]

Candidates

Bill Rowling, who had replaced Kirk as Prime Minister, was given the option by Labour of replacing Kirk in Sydenham but chose to remain in his home electorate of Tasman despite it being a more marginal electorate.[4]

Initially the three Labour electorate representatives wanted John Kirk, Norman Kirk's son, while the three head office nominees wanted the party secretary John Wybrow. Norman Kirk previously 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] Gerald O'Brien, the party vice-president who was on the panel to choose the Labour candidate, switched his vote to John Kirk, who got the nod.[4]

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

Results

The by-election was won by John Kirk, Norman Kirk's son.[2] This was John Kirk's entry into Parliament and he would hold the Sydenham electorate for ten years. John Kirk received 63% of the vote; Joe Poundsford of the Social Credit Party came second with 17%.

The table below contains the election results:

1974 Sydenham by-election[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour John Kirk 6,664 62.86
Social Credit Joe Poundsford 1,778 16.77
Values Andy Lea 685 6.46
Independent National Saul Goldsmith 684 6.45
Independent David Crawford 321 3.02
Christian Independent Tom Fouhy 274 2.58
Socialist Action Kay Goodger 181 1.70
Liberal 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. 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. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 September 2012. 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.
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