The 1946 Raglan by-election was a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

held in the electorate on 5 March 1946 during the term of the 27th New Zealand Parliament. The by-election was caused by the death of Labour Party representative Robert Coulter, and was won by

Hallyburton Johnstone Hallyburton Johnstone (23 August 1897 – 10 August 1970) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party. Biography Johnstone was born in Raglan in 1897, the son of Campbell Johnstone. He was educated at Te Uku, Whata Whata, and ...

of the National Party in a close result.

Background

The electorate Raglan was a mixture of rural and urban areas, and known as quite

marginal Marginal may refer to: * ''Marginal'' (album), the third album of the Belgian rock band Dead Man Ray, released in 2001 * ''Marginal'' (manga) * '' El Marginal'', Argentine TV series * Marginal seat or marginal constituency or marginal, in polit ...

. Rural households in the electorate were often quite remote, and this remoteness could swing the results of the election to the party with better campaigners. The by-election was caused by the death of Labour MP Robert Coulter on 31 December 1945. Coulter had been elected twice in rural electorates that usually returned

United United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two f ...

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

MPs, having previously been MP for .

Campaign

The campaign for Raglan was tightly fought, and it was believed that the result of the by-election could be a pointer to the results of the general election later that year. In addition to the candidates, politicians of high authority on both sides campaigned throughout the electorate in the interest of canvassing more voters. One of those figures was prime minister

Peter Fraser Peter Fraser (; 28 August 1884 – 12 December 1950) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 24th prime minister of New Zealand from 27 March 1940 until 13 December 1949. Considered a major figure in the history of the New Zealand La ...

Results

The provisional results were compiled on the day of the election and had Johnstone leading Baxter by 194 votes. 378

absentee ballot An absentee ballot is a vote cast by someone who is unable or unwilling to attend the official polling station to which the voter is normally allocated. Methods include voting at a different location, postal voting, proxy voting and online votin ...

s and 152

postal vote Postal voting is voting in an election where ballot papers are distributed to electors (and typically returned) by post, in contrast to electors voting in person at a polling station or electronically via an electronic voting system. In an ele ...

s were missing from this provisional count. The full results of the election had come in by 13 March and suggested a win by Johnstone with a majority of 308 votes. The final outcome was decided by the electoral court.

Aftermath

Labour stayed in office in the general election later that year, albeit by a decreased margin. The same two candidates Johnstone and Baxter competed at Raglan, Baxter commanding a lead of just 39 votes at the final count, a loss of 6 votes from the preliminary count. Two further rulings going well into 1947 culminated in Baxter's majority been reduced to a mere 13 votes.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raglan by-election, 1946 Raglan 1946 1946 elections in New Zealand Politics of Waikato March 1946 events in New Zealand