The 1995 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1995, elections 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. 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

Sitting Mayor

Fran Wilde Dame Frances Helen Wilde (née Kitching, born 11 November 1948) is a New Zealand politician, and former Wellington Labour member of parliament, Minister of Tourism and Mayor of Wellington. She was the first woman to serve as Mayor of Welling ...

was not renominated by the Labour Party with local members opining that she had drifted too far from Labour policies during her term as mayor. Instead members nominated Eastern ward councillor Hazel Armstrong, though she declined to stand for mayor or the city council. Wilde responded by stating she would stand as an independent if she decided to stand for a second term. She made clear she still supported the Labour Party and praised its leader

Helen Clark Helen Elizabeth Clark (born 26 February 1950) is a New Zealand politician who served as the 37th prime minister of New Zealand from 1999 to 2008 and was the administrator of the United Nations Development Programme from 2009 to 2017. She was ...

and her leadership of the party. Clark said Wilde would have her support if she decided to run as an independent candidate. Ultimately Wilde retired from the role after just one term. When standing in 1992 she intended to run for a second term and stated the decision not to run again was the hardest decision she ever had to make. She cited a wish to gain more privacy and the only way to do so would be to leave the mayoralty. Her decision prompted a record thirteen candidates to run for the position. The Labour Party eventually chose

Elizabeth Tennet Elizabeth Patricia Tennet (born 1953) is a former New Zealand politician. Biography Early life Tennet was born in 1953 in Feilding. She was educated locally before studying at Massey and Victoria University. Before entering politics, she work ...

, the Member of Parliament for , as its candidate for the election. It was the last time the Labour Party was to field a mayoral candidate until

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

. Wilde did not support Tennet's candidacy thinking she was not right for the role and she was only standing for mayor because the Island Bay seat was being abolished at the next general election. Tennet and another MP, Graham Kelly, described Wilde as a turncoat for her criticisms. The former chairman of the now defunct

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 ...

Nigel Gould was selected as the Citizens' Association candidate, beating out shoe retailer

Mark Blumsky Mark Herbert Blumsky (born 29 August 1957) is a former New Zealand politician and diplomat. He was Mayor of Wellington from 1995 to 2001, and a Member of Parliament for the National Party from 2005 to 2008. Blumsky was New Zealand's High Comm ...

and ratepayer advocate Jack Ruben for the nomination. Blumsky was not dissuaded and immediately declared his candidacy as an independent. The election saw

win office as Wellington's Mayor. He won a much larger majority than expected, with media anticipating a neck-and-neck result between himself and Tennet. The 1995 elections also saw the decline of the long established Citizens' Association electoral ticket. Gould finished in a disappointing fourth place for mayor and only four Citizens' ticket candidates won seats in the council, a record low. The ticket did not contest another mayoral election and would disband soon after.

Mayoralty results

The following table gives the election results:

Ward results

Candidates were also elected from wards to the

Wellington City Council Wellington City Council is a Territorial authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the city of Wellington, the country's capital city and List of cities in New Zealand#City councils, third-largest city by popul ...

References

Mayoral elections in Wellington 1995 elections in New Zealand Politics of the Wellington Region 1990s in Wellington {{NewZealand-election-stub