Christchurch Central by-election, 1979

Christchurch Central by-election, 1979

1978 general ← 18 August 1979 (1979-08-18) → 1981 general

Turnout 9,578   Candidate Geoffrey Palmer Terry Heffernan D P Duncan Party Labour Social Credit National Popular vote 6,149 1,759 1,634 Percentage 64.20% 18.37% 17.06

Member before election Bruce Barclay Labour Elected Member Geoffrey Palmer Labour

The Christchurch Central by-election of 1979 was a by-election during the 39th New Zealand Parliament. It was prompted by the death of Bruce Barclay, a Labour Party MP, and resulted in Geoffrey Palmer, also of the Labour Party, being elected to replace him for the seat of Christchurch Central. Palmer would eventually go on to become Prime Minister.^[1] The by-election was somewhat embarrassing for the National Party, whose candidate was pushed into third place by Social Credit's Terry Heffernan.

Christchurch Central by-election, 1979
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Geoffrey Palmer	6,149	64.20%
	Social Credit	Terry Heffernan	1,759	18.37%
	National	D P Duncan	1,634	17.06%
	Tory	S A Sadler	26	0.27%
	Economic Euthenics Party	Michael Hansen	10	0.10%
Majority			4,390	45.83%
Turnout			9,578
	Labour hold		Swing	Unknown

References

1. ^ "Geoffrey Palmer". Ministry for Culture and Heritage. updated 9 July 2010. http://www.nzhistory.net.nz/people/geoffrey-palmer. Retrieved 19 November 2011.