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1992 Wellington Central by-election
←  1990 general 12 December 1992 (1992-12-12) 1993 general →
Turnout15,644 (63.30%)
 
Candidate Chris Laidlaw Pauline Gardiner Denis Welch
Party Labour National Alliance
Popular vote 6,075 5,220 3,407
Percentage 38.83 33.37 21.78
Wellington Central electorate boundaries used for the by-election
Member before election

Fran Wilde
Labour

Elected Member

Chris Laidlaw
Labour

The 1992 Wellington Central by-election was a by-election held in the Wellington Central electorate during the 43rd New Zealand Parliament, on 12 December 1992. It was caused by the resignation of incumbent MP Fran Wilde after her election as mayor of Wellington and was won by Chris Laidlaw with a majority of 855. [1]

Background and candidates

Alliance

The Green Party candidate from the previous election, Stephen Rainbow said he would not contest the seat again as he was opposed to the Green Party's decision to join the Alliance. [2] As the Green Party vote was significantly higher than both NewLabour and the Democrat parties combined, a Green candidate was viewed as the Alliance's best route to gaining the seat. There were rumours that Rainbow would instead be approached by Labour (which he was formerly a member of) to stand for them. A Labour official downplayed the rumour but did not rule out the possibility. Rainbow himself said he had no official approach from Labour and stated in any event he wished to concentrate on his role as a Wellington City Councillor. [3]

Green Party city councillor Sue Kedgley was approached to stand, but she declined. [2] Karen Roper, a policy manager at the Public Service Association was also contacted for nomination. She had previously contested the Wellington Central seat in the 1978 general election for the Values Party. [4] [5] Another former Values Party candidate, New Zealand Listener writer Denis Welch, was ultimately chosen as the Alliance candidate over Roper. Welch contested Miramar, also in the 1978 general election. [6]

Labour

Although Labour were gaining ground in opinion polls, the party was cautious on the heels of the recent Tamaki by-election where their candidate finished a distant third. Leader Mike Moore said that the quality of the candidates would be "absolutely crucial" to deciding the outcome. [2] Labour's candidate in the Tamaki by-election, Verna Smith, was "interested" in standing though decided to put her efforts into winning the candidacy for Titirangi in the lead up to the 1993 general election. [2] Past President of the Public Service Association, Sue Piper contemplated standing. [2] Former All Black Chris Laidlaw expressed his interest in standing for the seat immediately. He then held the position of New Zealand's Race Relations Conciliator. [2] [7] Frances Denz, a business skills adviser who unsuccessfully sought nomination in Dunedin North in 1990 put herself forward for the nomination. [8] Two radio journalists, Sharon Crosbie and Barry Soper, were approached by Labour to stand in the seat with Soper rebuffing the offer and Crosbie not responding. [9] Neil Gray, an operations manager at the Housing New Zealand Corporation, then declared his intentions to stand in the seat. [10] Laidlaw ultimately won the selection over Denz and Gray. [11]

National

National's candidate from the 1990 general election Pauline Gardiner (who lost by only 246 votes) announced she intended to stand again for the seat. [2] The other nomination for the National candidacy was British-born Barbara Stones, a nursing lecturer at Wellington Polytechnic [5] Another ex-All Black, David Kirk, was approached by National to stand for the seat, though he declined nomination. [5] Wellington City Councillor Rex Nicholls, who regained a seat on the council in 1992 after failing to win the Mayoralty in 1989, also considered standing. His main concern was whether he could do two jobs at once as he did not want to force a council by-election should he win the seat. [12] Another city councillor, Kerry Prendergast, ruled out seeking the nomination but stated national politics were a future possibility. [8] Nicholls did not stand and former Wellington Regional Councillor Mike Gibson (alongside Gardiner and Stones) were the three candidates for the nomination with Gardiner gaining selection. [13]

Others

Lawyer David Stevenson announced his candidature as an independent and would campaign against the extravagant superannuation payments for MPs. Stevenson had previously been a National member but resigned in 1990 after an expose by the programme Frontline which showed large business donations being behind the party. Prior, while still a member, he had sought National's nomination in Wellington Central, but lost to Gardiner. [14]

The McGillicuddy Serious Party initially announced they would contest the by-election. They selected Tony Greer, a poet, as their candidate. Greer had made news in 1991 when he stole a delphinium plant from the home of social welfare minister Jenny Shipley's home as an act of protest against benefit cuts for which he was fined $286. Greer had just recently stood at the Christchurch mayoral election. [14]

Polling

The first poll conducted was before candidate selections were officially announced. [15]

Poll Date [nb 1] Pauline
Gardiner 		Chris
Laidlaw 		Denis
Welch
ONE News-Heylen 17 October 1992 32 38 30
  1. ^ These are the survey dates of the poll, or if the survey dates are not stated, the date the poll was released.

Previous election

1990 general election: Wellington Central [16]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Fran Wilde 9,069 41.39 -13.15
National Pauline Gardiner 8,823 40.26
Green Stephen Rainbow 3,164 14.45
NewLabour Jeff Montgomery 604 2.76
McGillicuddy Serious P P Clarke 175 0.80
Democrats R Henderson 49 0.22
Communist League Janet Roth 29 0.13
Majority 246 1.12 -20.55
Turnout 21,913 88.67 -1.43
Registered electors 24,714

Results

The following table gives the election results:

1992 Wellington Central by-election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Chris Laidlaw 6,075 38.83 -2.55
National Pauline Gardiner 5,220 33.37 -6.90
Alliance Denis Welch 3,407 21.78 +4.361
Independent David Stevenson 389 2.49
Natural Law Ian Douglas 263 1.68
Christian Heritage Wayne Chapman 154 0.98
Independent Tim Shadbolt 64 0.41
Wizard Party Tony Catford 40 0.26
Values John Carter 17 0.11
Communist League Felicty Coggan 14 0.09
Christ's Ambassadors Union Victor Bryers 1 0.01
Majority 855 5.47 +4.34
Turnout 15,644 63.302 -25.372
Labour hold Swing

1 Alliance vote change from 3,817 combined vote for Green Party, NewLabour and Democrats in 1990 election.

2 Based on 1990 election figures.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "By-election Special". The Evening Post. 14 December 1992. pp. 23–24.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Collins, Simon (12 October 1992). "Mayoral win opens up byelection". The New Zealand Herald. p. 1.
  3. ^ Edwards, Brent (13 October 1992). "Rainbow tipped as Labour possibility". The Evening Post. p. 3.
  4. ^ Norton 1988, pp. 387.
  5. ^ a b c Orsman, Bernard (13 October 1992). "Candidates sought for affluent voters". The New Zealand Herald. p. 2.
  6. ^ O'Leary, Eileen (19 October 1992). "Alliance candidate eyes Green, Maori and feminist style". The Evening Post. p. 3.
  7. ^ Orsman, Bernard (14 October 1992). "Laidlaw tests the wind". The New Zealand Herald. p. 5.
  8. ^ a b "Welch sets sights on Wgtn seat". The Evening Post. 17 October 1992. p. 1.
  9. ^ "Soper rejects by-election bid". The Evening Post. 19 October 1992. p. 1.
  10. ^ Edwards, Brent (20 October 1992). "Housing boss eyes nomination". The Evening Post. p. 3.
  11. ^ O'Leary, Eileen (30 October 1992). "Laidlaw to restore balance". The Evening Post. p. 3.
  12. ^ O'Leary, Eileen (16 October 1992). "Nicholls's sights on Parliament". The Evening Post. p. 14.
  13. ^ Foley, Roger (30 October 1992). "By-election 'not a litmus test'". The Evening Post. p. 3.
  14. ^ a b O'Leary, Eileen (30 October 1992). "By-election candidate focuses on party funding". The Evening Post. p. 1.
  15. ^ "Labour ahead in Wgtn Central". The Evening Post. 21 October 1992. p. 5.
  16. ^ Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1990.

References

  • 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.
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