1963 New Zealand general election

The 1963 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of New Zealand Parliament's 34th term. The results were almost identical to those of the previous election, and the governing National Party remained in office.

30 November 1963 (1963-11-30)
All 80 seats in the New Zealand Parliament 41 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	1,196,631 (89.6%)
First party Second party   Leader Keith Holyoake Arnold Nordmeyer Party National Labour Leader since 13 August 1957 26 February 1963 Leader's seat Pahiatua Island Bay Last election 46 seats, 47.6% 34 seats, 43.4% Seats won 45 35 Seat change 1 1 Popular vote 563,875 524,066 Percentage 47.1% 43.7% Swing 0.5% 0.6%
Prime Minister before election Keith Holyoake National Elected Prime Minister Keith Holyoake National

Background

The 1960 election had been won by the National Party, beginning New Zealand's second period of National government. Keith Holyoake, who had briefly been Prime Minister at the end of the first period, returned to office. The elderly leader of the Labour Party, Walter Nash, had agreed to step down following his government's defeat, but disliked the prospect of being succeeded by his Minister of Finance, Arnold Nordmeyer. Nash instead backed first Jerry Skinner and then, after Skinner's death, Fred Hackett. In the end, however, Nordmeyer was victorious. Nordmeyer, however, was unpopular with the general public, being remembered with hostility for the tax hikes in his so-called 'Black Budget'. Labour struggled to overcome this negative perception of its leader, and was only partially successful.

There had been an unusually large number of by-elections during the term of the 33rd Parliament. None of these had resulted in any upsets, and there was little indication for the population wanting a change. Holyoake started his election campaign on 4 November, not even a month out from the election.[1] Whilst television had just been introduced in New Zealand, the election campaign was a dull affair. And from 23 November, the Assassination of John F. Kennedy was the dominant topic in the media.[1]

The election

The date for the main 1963 elections was 30 November. 1,345,836 people were registered to vote, and turnout was 89.6%. This turnout was around average for the time. The number of seats being contested was 80, a number which had been fixed since 1902.

The following new (or reconstituted) electorates were introduced in 1963: Manurewa, New Lynn, Pakuranga, Porirua, Rangiora, Taupo and Waimarino.[2]

Results

The 1963 election saw the governing National Party retain office by a ten-seat margin. It had previously held office by a twelve-seat margin. National won a total of forty-five seats, while the Labour Party won thirty-five. In the popular vote, National won 47.1% to Labour's 43.7%. The Social Credit Party won 7.9% of the vote, but no seats. Four of their candidates also missed the nomination deadline. One political analyst, Professor Robert Chapman, called it "the no change election".[1][3]

Puti Tipene Watene was elected for Eastern Maori; he was a Mormon and was the first non-Ratana to win a Maori seat since 1938.

Election results
Party		Candidates	Total votes	Percentage	Seats won	Change
	National	80	563,875	47.1	45	-1
	Labour	80	524,066	43.7	35	+1
	Social Credit	76	95,176	7.9	-	±0
	Liberal	23	10,339	0.9	-	±0
	Communist	22	3,167	0.3	-	±0
	Others	9	1,422	0.1	-	±0
Total		290	1,196,631		80

Votes summary

Popular Vote National   47.10% Labour   43.70% Social Credit   7.90% Others   1.30%

Parliament seats National   56.25% Labour   43.75%

The table below shows the results of the 1963 general election:

Key

  National     Labour     Social Credit  

Electorate results for the 1963 New Zealand general election[4]

Electorate	Incumbent		Winner		Majority	Runner up
General electorates
Ashburton		Geoff Gerard			3,419		Albert George Braddick
Auckland Central		Norman Douglas			3,227		John Strevens
Avon		John Mathison			5,117		Stanley Lester Dodwell
Awarua		Gordon Grieve			3,373		Noel Valentine
Bay of Plenty		Percy Allen			3,025		P E Riden
Buller		Bill Rowling			1,671		Ernie King
Christchurch Central		Robert Macfarlane			1,915		David John Patchett
Clutha		Peter Gordon			3,595		Les McKay
Dunedin Central		Phil Connolly		Brian MacDonell	1,170		George Robert Thorn[5]
Dunedin North		Ethel McMillan			2,524		Edgar Whittleston
Eden		John Rae			3,335		Frank Knipe
Egmont		William Sheat			3,047		John Seddon
Fendalton		Harry Lake			2,740		Bruce Barclay
Franklin		Alfred E. Allen			5,848		Ron Ng-Waishing[6]
Gisborne		Esme Tombleson			902		Bob MacDonald[7]
Grey Lynn		Reginald Keeling		Ritchie Macdonald	5,240		Jolyon Firth
Hamilton		Lance Adams-Schneider			2,642		J M Cairns
Hastings		Duncan MacIntyre			1,944		Ted Keating
Hauraki		Arthur Kinsella			2,873		George Broad
Hawkes Bay		Cyril Harker		Richard Harrison	3,518		J G Woolf [8]
Heretaunga		Ron Bailey			2,135		Bob Kimmins
Hobson		Logan Sloane			31		Vernon Cracknell[nb 1]
Hutt		Walter Nash			3,648		Vere Edward Hampson-Tindale
Invercargill		Ralph Hanan			1,934		O J Henderson
Island Bay		Arnold Nordmeyer			2,388		Fairlie Fergus Curry
Karori		Jack Marshall			4,020		Keith Spry
Lyttelton		Norman Kirk			2,677		Tom Flint
Manawatu		Blair Tennent			2,513		Leonard Thomas Fischer
Manukau		Leon Götz		Colin Moyle	759		Henry Christopher Pryor
Manurewa	New electorate			Phil Amos	1,524		Leon Götz
Marlborough		Tom Shand			2,111		W G Kenyon
Marsden		Don McKay			3,942		O J Lewis
Miramar		Bill Fox			416		Bill Young
Mt Albert		Warren Freer			3,018		Jeffrey Lloyd Reid
Napier		Jim Edwards			785		D O Haskell
Nelson		Stanley Whitehead			2,610		Peter Malone
New Lynn	New electorate			Rex Mason	3,052		C A McLeod
New Plymouth		Ernest Aderman			474		Ron Barclay
North Shore		Dean Eyre			2,757		Reginald Keeling
Onehunga		Hugh Watt			5,127		J P Mason
Otago Central		John George			2,675		Stan Rodger
Otaki		Allan McCready			3,014		George McDonald
Pahiatua		Keith Holyoake			5,733		E J Hemmingsen
Pakuranga	New electorate			Bob Tizard	2,015		Roland Mainwaring Neville-White
Palmerston North		Bill Brown			772		Philip Skoglund
Petone		Mick Moohan			2,448		Peter Love
Piako		Stan Goosman		Geoffrey Sim	5,526		N R D Shewan
Porirua	New electorate			Henry May	3,161		Joseph Walter Miller
Raglan		Douglas Carter			1,850		Henry Uttinger
Rangiora	New electorate			Herbert Pickering	1,425		Te Rino Tirikatene
Rangitikei		Norman Shelton			4,307		Russell Wiseman
Remuera		Ronald Algie			7,001		Frederick Nelson Goodall
Riccarton		Mick Connelly			2,550		Ian Wilson
Rodney		Jack Scott			4,320		Chris Pickett
Roskill		Arthur Faulkner			3,216		Thomas Tucker
Rotorua		Harry Lapwood			2,217		James Phillip Cranston
Selwyn		John McAlpine			3,371		Francis Edward Smith
St Albans		Bert Walker			2,501		John Palmer
St Kilda		Bill Fraser			2,597		Kevin John Marlow
Stratford		Thomas Murray		David Thomson	4,590		J McLafferty
Sydenham		Mabel Howard			5,399		Derek Quigley
Tamaki		Robert Muldoon			3,754		Norman Finch
Taupo	New electorate			Rona Stevenson	275		Arthur John Ingram
Tauranga		George Walsh			4,545		Gordon Walker Stanley Hardaker
Timaru		Basil Arthur			2,831		M J O'Reilly
Waimarino	New electorate			Roy Jack	1,785		Olive Smuts-Kennedy
Waipa		Hallyburton Johnstone		Leslie Munro	3,165		Ronald Nelson Little
Wairarapa		Bert Cooksley		Haddon Donald	501		Jack Williams
Waitaki		Allan Dick			2,019		K S Lysaght
Waitakere		Rex Mason		Martyn Finlay	2,895		Horace Alexander Nash
Waitemata		Norman King			2,919		A G E Pugh
Waitomo		David Seath			4,655		H C Brown
Wallace		Brian Talboys			5,740		J S Reid
Wanganui		George Spooner			1,397		John Grace
Wellington Central		Dan Riddiford			1,508		Frank Kitts
Westland		Paddy Blanchfield			4,925		Winston Austin Reynolds
Māori electorates
Eastern Maori		Tiaki Omana		Puti Tipene Watene	2,566		Arnold Reedy[9]
Northern Maori		Matiu Rata			2,123		James Henare
Southern Maori		Eruera Tirikatene			4,978		Ben Couch
Western Maori		Iriaka Ratana			5,096		Pei Te Hurinui Jones

Notes

1. Vernon Cracknell was first on election night, but lost when special votes were included

References

1. Gustafson 2007, p. 134.
2. Norton 1988, pp. 7,8,9.
3. Gustafson 1986, p. 92.
4. Norton 1988, pp. ?.
5. Norton 1988, p. 212.
6. "Interview with Ron Ng-Waishing". National Library of New Zealand. 1994. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
7. Norton 1988, p. 228.
8. Norton 1988, p. 240.
9. Gustafson 1986, p. 383.

Works Cited

• Gustafson, Barry (1986). The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party. Auckland: Reed Methuen. ISBN 0-474-00177-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Gustafson, Barry (2007). Kiwi Keith: a biography of Keith Holyoake. Auckland: Auckland University Press. ISBN 978-1-86940-400-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)