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 Wellington, 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 ...

plus other local government positions including eighteen city councillors. The polling was conducted using the standard

first-past-the-post First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or First-preference votes, first-preference, and the cand ...

electoral method.

Background

The 1977 mayoralty was notable for the highly publicised candidacy of

Carmen Rupe Carmen Rupe (10 October 1936 – 15 December 2011), was a New Zealand drag performer, brothel keeper, anti-discrimination activist, would-be politician and HIV/AIDS activist. Carmen Rupe was New Zealand's first drag queen to reach celebrity ...

, a transgender

drag performer Drag is a performance of exaggerated femininity, masculinity, or other forms of gender expression, usually for entertainment purposes. Drag usually involves cross-dressing. A drag queen is someone (usually male) who performs femininely and a drag ...

and brothel keeper. 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 A brothel, strumpet house, bordello, bawdy house, ranch, house of ill repute, house of ill fame, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. For legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe t ...

, 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. Originally from the South Island, he served in the military and later was a civil servant before entering politics with the Labour Party. He was the Member o ...

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 Sir James Belich (25 July 1927 – 13 September 2015) was a New Zealand local politician. He was the mayor of Wellington from 1986 to 1992. Biography Early life and career Belich was born on 25 July 1927, of Croat descent, in Awanui, North ...

was approached, but he declined for personal reasons. Frank O'Flynn also considered standing, but withdrew in favour of Kitts, though O'Flynn stood on the council ticket and was elected. A ''

Dominion A dominion was any of several largely self-governance, self-governing countries of the British Empire, once known collectively as the ''British Commonwealth of Nations''. Progressing from colonies, their degrees of self-governing colony, colon ...

'' 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 Wellington Harbour Board was the body which formerly managed the shipping and commercial affairs of the port of Wellington in New Zealand. It was constituted in 1880 and was disestablished in 1989. During its 110-year tenure the Harbour Board ...

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 in Oceania 1970s in Wellington