List of by-elections to the Auckland City Council

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By-elections to the Auckland City Council occur to fill vacant seats in the City Council. The death, resignation, bankruptcy or expulsion of a sitting Councillor can cause a by-election to occur.

Local by-elections usually had a lower turnout compared to full local body elections. A notorious example occurred in August 1961 when a vacancy triggered the second by-election in under a year which had a turnout of only 3.65% of voters, prompting Mayor Dove-Myer Robinson to label the light turnout "...absolutely disgraceful. By failing to exercise their democratic right the public is just asking Parliament to take away from them the right to vote".[1] By-elections on the city council were on occasion deferred if a substantial majority of the council agreed to fill the vacancy by appointment, resulting in the highest polling unsuccessful candidate at the previous election being appointed to the council unless there is a public demand for a poll to be held (known as extraordinary vacancies). This arrangement has happened several times such as in 1940 when Charles Bailey resigned his seat which was taken by Harry Butcher and March 1953 when Arthur Bailey died and his seat was taken by Bob Beechey.[2]

Two future Mayors of Auckland (John Allum and Dove-Myer Robinson) entered the council via by-elections in 1920 and 1952 respectively.

List of by-elections

Between 1903 and 1986 municipal elections in Auckland were conducted at-large. Between 1986 and 2010 municipal elections in Auckland were held via a Wards system of local electoral districts.[3] The following is a list of by-elections held to fill vacancies on the Auckland City Council:

Key

  Independent   Labour   Citizens & Ratepayers   United Independents   Civic Reform   Alliance
WardDateIncumbentCauseWinner
At-large 2 April 1908 Robert Stopford Resignation John Patterson
At-large 14 October 1909 Moncrieff Murray McCallum Resignation Ralph Thomas Michaels
At-large 18 May 1910 Lemuel Bagnall Resignation Henry Shaw
At-large 2 September 1910 Herbert Smeeton Resignation Jonathan Trevethick
At-large 18 November 1920 Ernest Davis Resignation John Allum
Andrew Entrican George Hutchison
At-large 22 December 1921 Patrick Nerheny Death George Davis
At-large 28 April 1922 Harold Dennett Heather Death Alfred Lawry
Peter Mitchell Mackay Samuel Crookes
At-large 25 October 1922 Horatio Bagnall Death Christopher Furness
At-large 7 November 1928 Frederick Brinsden Death Tom Bloodworth
At-large 27 May 1936 John William Yarnall Death Jim Purtell
At-large 6 July 1938 George Richardson Death Charles Bailey
At-large 5 April 1952 Howard Hunter Expulsion Dove-Myer Robinson
At-large 16 October 1954 Fred Ambler Expulsion Fred Ambler
Bruce Barnett Resignation Val Chapman
At-large 14 December 1957 Keith Buttle Resignation Wilfred Fortune
At-large 4 October 1958 Howard Hunter Death Charlie Passmore
At-large 4 February 1961 James Neil Bradley Death Val Chapman
At-large 26 August 1961 Mary Dreaver Death Howard Jeffreys
At-large 20 April 1963 Tom Pearce Expulsion Tom Pearce
Fred de Malmanche Resignation William Grant-Mackie
At-large 10 February 1979 Bill Barrett Death Richard Northey
Avondale 5 December 1987 Barry Donovan Death Brian Maude
Central 12 November 1988 Harold Goodman Death Sue Corbett
Maungakiekie 4 May 1991 Grahame Thorne Resignation Ken Graham
Hauraki Gulf Islands 28 May 1994 Sandra Lee Resignation Gordon Hodson
Avondale-Roskill 11 November 2000 Phil Raffills Death Noelene Raffills
Avondale-Roskill 9 April 2008 Linda Leighton Death John Lister

Results

Notes

References

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