The 1965 Lower Hutt mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. The elections were held for the role of

Mayor of Lower Hutt The city of Lower Hutt, New Zealand, was first proclaimed a borough on 1 February 1891. Prior to this it had been part of Hutt County, initially as a Roads Board and from 1881 as a Town Board. Since 2019, the mayor has been Campbell Barry. Li ...

plus other local government positions including fifteen city councillors, also elected triennially. 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

The incumbent Mayor,

Percy Dowse Percy Dowse (4 December 1898 – 9 December 1970) was a New Zealand politician. He was mayor of Lower Hutt from 1950 to 1970. Biography Early life He was born in Lancashire in 1898 and was educated at Wigan Technical College. His coal miner fat ...

, sought re-election for a sixth term. He was returned unopposed as no other candidates nominated. Councillor

John Kennedy-Good Sir John Kennedy-Good (8 August 1915 – 11 July 2005) was a New Zealand politician. He was mayor of Lower Hutt from 1970 to 1986. Biography Early life and career Kennedy-Good was born in 1915 in Goulburn, New South Wales, where his father was ...

was encouraged by centre-right supporters to stand for mayor, but he declined to challenge Dowse, who he considered a good leader as well as a personal friend. The Citizens' Association, while not contesting the mayoralty, stood a full ticket of council candidates, the first time they had done so since 1953. This was to avoid a repeat of the 1959-62 council where Citizens' endorsed Ratepayer Independents won a majority on the council, but were hampered by having little in the way of agreed policy.

Councillor results

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lower Hutt Mayoral Election, 1965 Mayoral elections in Lower Hutt 1965 elections in New Zealand Politics of the Wellington Region