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 The Mayor of Wellington is the head of the municipal government of the City of Wellington. The mayor presides over the Wellington City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the Single Transferable Vote method of proportional representati ...

plus other local government positions including fifteen city councillors. The polling was conducted using the standard

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

electoral method.

Background and candidates

The long serving incumbent Mayor

John Luke John Luke may refer to: * John A. Luke Jr., chief executive officer of MeadWestvaco * John Luke (artist) (1906–1975), Irish artist * John Luke (New Zealand politician) (1858–1931), New Zealand politician * John Luke (MP) (1563–1638), English p ...

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. The three aspirants for the Civic League nomination were: *Len McKenzie, a city councillor since 1911 *

Charles Norwood Sir Charles John Boyd Norwood (23 August 1871 – 26 November 1966) was a prominent Wellington New Zealand-based businessman with interests throughout New Zealand and Australia. He was a civic leader, his knighthood was awarded for public servic ...

, a city councillor since 1917 * Robert Wright, a city councillor since 1913 Thomas Hislop, a former mayor from 1905 to 1909, also intended to stand as an independent candidate, eschewing the Civic League's nomination process. However after receiving multiple requests Hislop decided to withdraw from the election. The Labour Party selected Pat Hickey as its mayoral candidate. Hickey was the editor of the ''

Maoriland Worker The ''Maoriland Worker'', later called ''The Standard'', was a leading New Zealand labour journal of the early 20th century. It was launched in 1910 by the Shearers' Union and was initially published monthly (Frank Langstone was involved). The ne ...

'' newspaper. 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.

Mayoralty results

Councillor results

Notes

References

* * Mayoral elections in Wellington 1921 elections in New Zealand Politics of the Wellington Region 1920s in Wellington {{NewZealand-election-stub