The Taranaki-King Country by-election was a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

in the New Zealand electorate of

Taranaki-King Country image:Taranaki-King Country electorate, 2014.svg, Taranaki-King Country electorate boundaries used since the Taranaki-King Country is a New Zealand parliamentary New Zealand electorates, electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New ...

, a large and predominantly rural district in the west of New Zealand's

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

. It took place on 2 May 1998, and was precipitated by the resignation from parliament of sitting MP

Jim Bolger James Brendan Bolger ( ; born 31 May 1935) is a New Zealand retired politician of the National Party who was the 35th prime minister of New Zealand, serving from 1990 to 1997. Bolger was born to an Irish immigrant family in Ōpunake, Taran ...

. Bolger was retiring from politics, having recently been replaced as

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Jenny Shipley Dame Jennifer Mary Shipley (née Robson; born 4 February 1952) is a New Zealand former politician who served as the 36th prime minister of New Zealand from 1997 to 1999. She was the first female prime minister of New Zealand, and the first woma ...

. The by-election was contested by all major parties. It was won by

Shane Ardern Philip Shane Ardern (born 26 January 1960) is a New Zealand politician. He is a member of the National Party and represented the electorate of Taranaki-King Country from 1998 to 2014. Early years Ardern is the son of Noel and Olive Ardern. H ...

, a member of Bolger's National Party, although Ardern gained a majority of only 988 votes. (In the 1996 general election Bolger had a majority of 10,223, or 37.37% in this seat.) Surprisingly, second place was won by Owen Jennings of the ACT party, a small party that promotes economic deregulation and other

laissez-faire ''Laissez-faire'' ( ; from french: laissez faire , ) is an economic system in which transactions between private groups of people are free from any form of economic interventionism (such as subsidies) deriving from special interest groups. ...

economic policies. The Labour Party, National's traditional opponent, was pushed back into third place. The

Alliance An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

, a left-wing party, gained fourth place. Some distance behind these four were Christian Heritage,

New Zealand First New Zealand First ( mi, Aotearoa Tuatahi), commonly abbreviated to NZ First, is a nationalist and populist political party in New Zealand. The party formed in July 1993 following the resignation on 19 March 1993 of its leader and founder, Winst ...

, and the Greens, all with similar numbers of votes. They were followed by a group of minor parties and independents.

Results

The following table gives the election results:

References

Taranaki-King Country 1998 1998 elections in New Zealand Politics of Taranaki Politics of Waikato May 1998 events in New Zealand {{NewZealand-election-stub