The 1913 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1913, 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.

David McLaren David McLaren may refer to: * David McLaren (colonial manager) (1785–1850), colonial manager (CEO) of the colony of South Australia (1837–1841) * David McLaren (politician) (1872–1939), mayor of Wellington and member of the New Zealand Parlia ...

, the incumbent Mayor, was defeated by

John Luke John Luke may refer to: * John A. Luke Jr., chief executive officer of MeadWestvaco * John Luke (artist) (1906–1975), Irish artist * John Luke (New Zealand politician) (1858–1931), New Zealand politician * John Luke (MP) (1563–1638), English p ...

by a relatively narrow margin, becoming the new Mayor of Wellington. 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

Incumbent Mayor

sought a second term, opposed only by former MP

. To avoid a repeat of the previous election, a conscious effort was made to ensure only a single "anti-Labour" candidate for the mayoralty. The strategy worked, although Luke's slim majority of only 500 votes coupled with the fact that McLaren's share of the vote went substantially up caused real alarm. In addition the two sitting Labour councillors were re-elected with Labour's proportion of votes increasing there as well. This confounded expectations of a strong anti-Labour backlash at the polls following the

Waihi miners' strike The Waihi miners' strike was a major strike action in 1912 by gold miners in the New Zealand town of Waihi. It is widely regarded as the most significant industrial action in the history of New Zealand's labour movement. It resulted in one strik ...

only months before.

Mayoralty results

Councillor results

Notes

References

* Mayoral elections in Wellington 1913 elections in New Zealand Politics of the Wellington Region 1910s in Wellington {{NewZealand-election-stub