The 1971 Christchurch mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1971, elections were held for the

Mayor of Christchurch The Mayor of Christchurch is the head of the municipal government of Christchurch, New Zealand, and presides over the Christchurch City Council. The mayor is directly elected using a First Past the Post electoral system. The current mayor, Ph ...

plus other local government positions. 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

There were two hotly-discussed issues leading up to the 1971 election: a proposal by the mayor to build a road through North Hagley Park, and the venue choice for the 1974 British Commonwealth Games. Senior councillor

Peter Skellerup Peter Jensen Reid Skellerup (also Skjellerup, 14 January 1918 – 15 May 2006) was a New Zealand industrialist and philanthropist. Early life Skellerup was born in Christchurch in 1918. His father was George Skellerup (1881–1955), the founde ...

of the Citizens' ticket criticised the incumbent mayor, Ron Guthrey (also of the Citizens' ticket) on the road proposal. According to

Hamish Hay Sir Hamish Grenfell Hay (8 December 1927 – 7 September 2008) was a New Zealand politician, who served as Mayor of Christchurch for fifteen years, from 1974 to 1989. He was Christchurch's longest-serving mayor. Early life and family Hay was one ...

, a later mayor, the road proposal was Guthrey's undoing, and he was defeated by Labour councillor Neville Pickering. It was the first occasion in 46 years that a sitting mayor had been defeated. Labour won a majority on the city council as well, winning control of the council for the first time since 1956, resulting in the composition of the council at eleven seats to eight in favour of the Labour Party. The highest-polling councillor, by a margin of 2500 votes, was Skellerup, though.

Mayoralty results

The following table gives the election results:

Councillor results

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Christchurch Mayoral Election, 1971 Mayoral elections in Christchurch 1971 elections in New Zealand Politics of Christchurch October 1971 events in New Zealand 1970s in Christchurch