The 1983 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1983, 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 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 election saw deputy mayor Ian Lawrence voted in as the new Mayor of Wellington to replace Sir Michael Fowler who had retired. Lawrence retained the Mayoralty for the Citizens' Association, seeing off a challenge from high profile Labour Party councillor

Helene Ritchie Helene Ruth Paula Ritchie (née Hess; born 16 March 1945) is a former local body politician, registered psychologist and mediator, and a board member from Wellington, New Zealand. As Wellington's longest serving City Councillor of over 30 years ...

. Given Lawrence's quiet style and low profile compared to Ritchie's more marked public reputation, most commentators and pollsters were predicting a very close result. The eventual outcome was a surprise to many with Lawrence winning by a margin exceeding 8,000 votes, with media dubbing him "Landslide Lawrence". Ritchie retrospectively blamed her loss on an "anti-woman vote". The 1983 election was also notable as it saw former Citizens' councillor Leone Harkness re-elected to the council as an independent candidate, the first time a candidate without an official party ticket had been elected to the council since Berkeley Dallard in

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 crashes in a snowstorm. All 19 ...

. It also saw Jenny Brough (later Harris) retain her seat on the council after defecting from Labour in 1982. It also marked the last time in Wellington where local body elections elected councillors at large.

Mayoralty results

Councillor results

Table footnotes:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wellington City Mayoral Election, 1983 Mayoral elections in Wellington 1983 elections in New Zealand Politics of the Wellington Region 1980s in Wellington October 1983 events in New Zealand