The 1977 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1977, election 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 representat ...

plus other local government positions including eighteen 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 thei ...

electoral method.

Background

The 1977 mayoralty was notable for the highly publicized candidacy of Carmen Rupe, a transgender

drag performer The term "drag" refers to the performance of exaggerated masculinity, femininity, or other forms of gender expression, usually for entertainment purposes. A drag queen is someone (usually male) who performs femininity and a drag king is someone ( ...

and

brothel keeper Procuring or pandering is the facilitation or provision of a prostitute or other sex worker in the arrangement of a sex act with a customer. A procurer, colloquially called a pimp (if male) or a madam (if female, though the term pimp has still ...

. With the support of local businessman Bob Jones, who organised her campaign and wrote her speeches, Carmen's campaign utilised the slogans ''Get in Behind'' and ''Carmen for Mayor'' and campaigned on a platform to legalise gay marriage and brothels, despite neither being local-government matters in New Zealand. Former mayor Sir

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 lif ...

attempted a comeback after losing narrowly three years earlier. His candidature took many by surprise with the press expecting Labour to try and rejuvenate. Local businessman Jim Belich was approached, but he declined for personal reasons.

Frank O'Flynn Francis Duncan O'Flynn (24 October 1918 – 17 October 2003) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. Biography O'Flynn was born in Runanga in 1918. He was the son of Francis Edward O'Flynn and Margaret Helen Valentine Duncan. He re ...

also considered standing, but withdrew in favour of Kitts, though O'Flynn stood on the council ticket and was elected. A ''

Dominion The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 192 ...

'' editorial said of Kitts' candidature "No one knew what Frank Kitts did during his three years in the political wilderness and no one knew why he wanted to come back". His support in the mayoral race fell further, though he was again elected to the

Wellington Harbour Board (Strong but true) , predecessor = , merged = , successor = , formation = , founder = , founding_location = , dissolved = , merger = , type ...

where his vote increased.

Mayoralty results

Councillor results

Table footnotes:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wellington City Mayoral Election, 1977 Mayoral elections in Wellington 1977 elections in New Zealand Politics of the Wellington Region October 1977 events in New Zealand 1970s in Wellington