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1921 Wellington City mayoral election

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1912 Wellington City mayoral election

← 1919 27 April 1921 1923 →
Turnout20,518 (51.90%)
 
Candidate Robert Wright Pat Hickey
Party Civic League Labour
Popular vote 13,405 7,113
Percentage 65.33 34.66

Mayor before election

John Luke

Elected mayor

Robert Wright

The 1921 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1921, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington plus other local government positions including fifteen city councillors. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.

Background and candidates

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The long serving incumbent Mayor John Luke did not seek re-election. To replace retiring Mayor Luke five "anti-Labour" candidates emerged, which caused fear of vote splitting and a repeat of the 1912 election. As such, two immediately withdrew and the remaining three agreed to submit to the decision of an impartial committee to decide which one of them was most suitable.[1]

The three aspirants for the Civic League nomination were:[2]

Thomas Hislop, a former mayor from 1905 to 1909, also intended to stand as an independent candidate, eschewing the Civic League's nomination process.[2] However after receiving multiple requests Hislop decided to withdraw from the election.[3]

The Labour Party selected Pat Hickey as its mayoral candidate. Hickey was the editor of the Maoriland Worker newspaper.[4]

Wright defeated Hickey for the mayoralty in a two horse race. The election was also notable due to the success of Annie McVicar, who became the first woman to be elected as a city councillor in Wellington's history.[5]

Mayoralty results

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1921 Wellington mayoral election[6]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Civic League Robert Wright 13,405 65.33
Labour Pat Hickey 7,113 34.66
Majority 6,292 30.66
Turnout 20,518 51.90 −2.21

Councillor results

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1921 Wellington City Council election[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Civic League Len McKenzie 11,332 55.22 +2.56
Civic League Charles Norwood 11,141 54.29 +0.15
Civic League William Gaudin 11,101 54.10 +15.14
Civic League William Bennett 10,983 53.52 +5.06
Civic League Martin Luckie 10,646 51.88 +1.83
Civic League Thomas Forsyth 10,445 50.90 +6.73
Civic League Benjamin Burn 10,232 49.86
Civic League James Dale 9,889 48.19 +2.94
Civic League John Burns 9,293 45.29
Civic League William Thompson 9,056 44.13 +0.24
Labour Peter Fraser 7,726 37.65 −9.54
Civic League Annie McVicar 7,690 37.47
Labour Charles Chapman 7,333 35.73 −9.50
Civic League Sydney Underwood 7,300 35.57
Civic League Jane Preston 7,016 34.19
Civic League Alexander Parton 7,007 34.15
Independent John Kerslake 6,733 32.81
Labour John Glover 6,394 31.16 −10.14
Labour Alec Monteith 6,247 30.44 −7.00
Labour Tom Brindle 5,979 29.14 −10.61
Independent Dunbar Sloane 5,939 28.94
Labour John Read 5,895 28.73
Labour Tom Young 5,777 28.15
Labour Alec Croskery 5,775 28.14 −10.28
Independent Edward Vine 5,518 26.89
Labour James McKenzie 5,363 26.13
Labour Michael Walsh 5,187 25.28
Labour Sarah Snow 4,912 23.93 −8.77
Independent Timothy Buckley 4,752 23.16
Independent Frank Meadowcroft 4,702 22.91 −18.36
Independent Nellie Coad 4,469 21.78
Labour Sarah Catlow 4,392 21.40
Labour Robert McKeen 4,304 20.97 −11.26
Labour Frederick Singleton 3,943 19.24
Labour Bob Stickney 3,931 19.15 −11.76
Independent Andrew Hornblow 2,791 13.60 +1.16
Independent Robert Burbidge 2,783 13.56
Independent George Baylis 2,388 11.63
Independent James Muir 1,795 8.74
Independent Patrick Cavanagh 1,275 6.21

Notes

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  1. ^ Betts 1970, pp. 179.
  2. ^ a b "City Mayoralty - Coming Contest". The New Zealand Times. Vol. XLVII, no. 10838. 2 March 1921. p. 5.
  3. ^ "The Mayoralty - Hon. T. Hislop Retires". The New Zealand Times. Vol. XLVII, no. 10877. 18 April 1921. p. 5.
  4. ^ "News of the Day". The New Zealand Times. Vol. XLVI, no. 10727. 22 October 1920. p. 4.
  5. ^ Hughes, Beryl. "Annie McVicar". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  6. ^ "Wellington City Council". The Evening Post. Vol. CI, no. 109. 9 May 1921. p. 3.
  7. ^ "City Council". The Evening Post. Vol. CI, no. 108. 7 May 1921. p. 3. Retrieved 9 June 2016.

References

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