Sydenham by-election, 1974

Sydenham by-election, 1974

2 November 1975

Candidate John Kirk J E 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

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.

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] The by-election was won by John Kirk, Norman Kirk's son.^[2] It was New Zealand's first parliamentary election where a voting age of 18 years applied.^[3]

Candidates

In 1974 Gerald O'Brien the party vice-president was on the panel to choose the successor to Norman Kirk in Sydenham. Initially the three electorate representatives wanted John Kirk and the three head office nominees wanted the party secretary John Wybrow. O'Brien switched his vote to John Kirk, who got the nod.^[4] Kirk 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]

The National Party decided not to stand a candidate, although previous National candidate A S (Saul) Goldsmith from Wellington stood as an Independent National candidate.

Results

The table below contains the election results:

Sydenham by-election, 1974[6]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Kirk	6,664	62.9
	Social Credit	J. E. Poundsford	1,778	16.8
	Values	A. Lea	685	6.5
	Independent National	Abraham Saul Goldsmith	684	6.4
	Independent	D. J. Crawford	321	3.0
	Christian Independent	T. C. Fouhy	274	2.6
	Socialist Action	Ms V. K. Goodger	181	1.7
	Progressive Kiwi	D. K. Mitchell	13	1.7
Majority			4,886	46.1
Informal votes			101
Turnout			10,600	51.9
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. 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. 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.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand parliamentary record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.