1992 Wellington City mayoral election

1992 Wellington City mayoral election
	10 October 1992
	10 October 1992
Turnout	57,157 (53.26%)
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	3,246	28.1	2,200	19.0	1,909	16.5	1,125	9.7	3,093	26.7	11,573
Lambton	3,035	43.2	737	10.5	1,020	14.5	1,015	14.4	1,221	17.4	7,028
Northern	2,295	29.0	1,810	22.9	1,006	12.7	634	8.0	2,160	27.4	7,905
Onslow	2,151	34.0	838	13.2	1,101	17.4	600	9.5	1,644	25.9	6,334
Tawa	1,153	24.6	928	19.8	856	18.3	377	8.1	1,366	29.2	4,680
Southern	3,856	37.0	1,909	18.3	1,260	12.1	1,308	12.5	2,096	20.1	10,429
Western	3,041	33.1	1,291	14.0	1,597	17.4	1,060	11.5	2,211	24.0	9,200
Total	18,795	32.9	9,715	17.0	8,751	15.3	6,122	10.7	13,774	24.1	57,157

Ward results

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

	Party/ticket	Councillors
	Citizens'	6
	Labour	5
	Greens	4
	Independent	6

References

"Citizens pick Comber for mayoralty". The Dominion. 18 March 1992.
O'Leary, Eileen (23 March 1992). "MP Wilde decides to contest mayoralty". The Evening Post.
Morrison, Alistair (19 March 1992). "Labour toys with the Wilde card". The Dominion.
"Moore wants Wilde to remain MP". The Dominion. 19 March 1992.
Bly, Ross (1992). City of Wellington: Local Body Elections, 1992 (Report). Wellington City Council.

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[Citizens-1] "Citizens pick Comber for mayoralty". The Dominion. 18 March 1992.

[Labour-2] O'Leary, Eileen (23 March 1992). "MP Wilde decides to contest mayoralty". The Evening Post.

[Wilde_card-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.

[Results-5] Bly, Ross (1992). City of Wellington: Local Body Elections, 1992 (Report). Wellington City Council.