Electoral history of Norman Kirk

Norman Kirk in 1974.

This is a summary of the electoral history of Norman Kirk, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1972–74), Leader of the Labour Party (1965–74), Member of Parliament for Lyttelton (1957–69) and later Sydenham (1969–74).

Parliamentary elections

1954 election

General election, 1954: Hurunui^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	National	William Gillespie	6,454	52.3	-8.7
	Labour	Norman Kirk	4,059	32.9
	Social Credit	WL Cate	1,829	14.8
Majority			2,395	19.4	-2.6
Turnout			13,524	91.8	+3.9

1957 election

General election, 1957: Lyttelton^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Norman Kirk	8,064	48.7
	National	Harry Lake	7,497	45.2	+4.0
	Social Credit	Wilfrid Owen	1,014	6.1	-11.7
Majority			567	3.5
Turnout			17,519	94.9	-0.1

1960 election

General election, 1960: Lyttelton^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Norman Kirk	7,910	48.7
	National	JB Hay	7,650	46.1
	Social Credit	C Munnings	1,040	6.3
Majority			260	1.5	-4.8
Turnout			17,911	93.0	-1.9

1963 election

General election, 1963: Lyttelton^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Norman Kirk	9,539	54.0	+5.3
	National	TD Flint	6,862	38.9
	Social Credit	C Munnings	1,249	7.1	+0.8
Majority			2,677	15.1	+13.6
Turnout			19,153	92.6	-0.4

1966 election

General election, 1966: Lyttelton^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Norman Kirk	9,045	52.0	-2.0
	National	GPA De Latour	6,924
	Social Credit	C Munnings	1,424	8.2	+1.1
Majority			2,121	12.2	-2.9
Turnout			19,844	88.0	-4.6

1969 election

General election, 1969: Sydenham^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Norman Kirk	10,575	63.5
	National	PJ Morrisey	4,549	27.3
	Social Credit	JE Pounsford	1,285	7.7	-9.3
	Independent	IA Moore	121	0.8
	Independent	CM Hansen	110	0.7
Majority			6,026	36.3
Turnout			19,203	87.1	+3.9

1972 election

General election, 1972: Sydenham^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Norman Kirk	11,711	67.4	+3.9
	National	JF Burn	4,722	27.2
	Social Credit	AC Easterbrook	758	4.4
	Independent	CM Hansen	67	0.4	-0.3
	New Democratic	JB Elliot	62	0.4
	Independent	AM Leeman-Smith	42	0.2
Majority			6,989	40.2	+3.9
Turnout			19,382	87.2	+0.1

Local elections

1953 Kaiapoi mayoral election

Kaiapoi mayoral election, 1953^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Norman Kirk	621	54.86
	Independent	Owen Hills	511	45.14
Majority			110	9.71
Turnout			1,132
Registered electors

1956 Kaiapoi mayoral election

Kaiapoi mayoral election, 1956^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Labour	Norman Kirk	Unopposed
Registered electors

Leadership elections

1965 Leadership election

	Name	Votes	Percentage
	Norman Kirk	25	71.4%
	Arnold Nordmeyer	10	28.6%

Notes

1. Norton 1988, pp. 250.
2. Norton 1988, pp. 263.
3. Norton 1988, pp. 350.
4. Norton 1988, pp. 351.
5. Grant 2014, pp. 45.
6. Grant 2014, pp. 50.

References

• 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.
• Grant, David (2014). The Mighty Totara: The life and times of Norman Kirk. Auckland: Random House. ISBN 9781775535799.
• Hayward, Margaret (1981). Diary of the Kirk Years. Auckland: Reed Publishing. ISBN 0589013505.