The 1953 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1953, 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.

Campaign

The mayoral contest was essentially a rematch from three years previously with incumbent mayor

Robert Macalister Sir Robert Lachlan Macalister (2 December 1890 – 23 May 1967) was the Mayor of Wellington from 1950 to 1956, and had been the acting mayor for five months in 1948 during the absence overseas of Will Appleton. Biography Early life and career Ma ...

opposed by councillor

Frank Kitts Sir Francis Joseph Kitts (1 May 1912 – 16 March 1979) was a New Zealand politician. He was the longest-serving mayor of Wellington, holding the post from 1956 to 1974. He was the Labour Member of Parliament for between and 1960. Early life ...

of the Labour Party. A third candidate, Julius Hyde, stood as an independent campaigning on his opposition to the construction of an international airport in Wellington. A major talking point in the lead up to the election was the potential of a clash with the 1953 Royal Tour. There were proposals to postpone local elections until early 1954 over fears of reduced turnout due to a conflicted schedule. The proposals were considered by the Minister of Internal Affairs William Bodkin, who ultimately decided against it.

Mayoralty results

Councillor results

Table footnotes:

References

Mayoral elections in Wellington 1953 elections in New Zealand Politics of the Wellington Region 1950s in Wellington October 1953 events in New Zealand {{NewZealand-election-stub