Electoral history of Jim McLay

This is a summary of the electoral history of Jim McLay, Leader of the National Party (1984–86), and Member of Parliament for Birkenhead (1975–87).

Parliamentary elections

1975 election

General election, 1975: Birkenhead

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Jim McLay	10,871	51.76
	Labour	Norman King	8,055	38.35	−11.46
	Values	Ray Tomes	1,253	5.96
	Social Credit	George Thew	907	4.31	−1.17
	Independent	Noel John Hardie	14	0.06
Majority			2,816	13.40	−0.23
Turnout			21,000	84.83	−5.32
Registered electors			24,753

1978 election

General election, 1978: Birkenhead

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Jim McLay	9,350	48.62	−3.14
	Labour	Rex Stanton	6,816	35.44
	Social Credit	Des Long	2,583	13.43
	Values	Keith Wargeant	480	2.49
Majority			2,534	13.17
Turnout			19,229	71.53	−13.30
Registered electors			26,882

1981 election

General election, 1981: Birkenhead

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Jim McLay	9,672	46.51	−2.11
	Labour	Bill Smith	7,568	36.39
	Social Credit	Mervyn Adair	3,552	17.08
Majority			2,104	10.11	−3.06
Turnout			20,792	90.07	+18.54
Registered electors			23,082

1984 election

General election, 1984: Birkenhead

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Jim McLay	9,547	43.82	−2.69
	Labour	John Course	7,830	35.94
	NZ Party	Janie Pearce	3,761	17.26
	Social Credit	Bruce Raymond Sheppard	648	2.97
Majority			1,717	7.88	−2.23
Turnout			21,786	93.22	+3.15
Registered electors			23,370

Leadership elections

1984 deputy leadership election

	Name	Votes	Percentage
	Jim McLay	25	53.19%
	Jim Bolger	15	31.91%
	Bill Birch	7	14.89%

1984 leadership election

	Name	Votes	Percentage
	Jim McLay	22	62.85%
	Jim Bolger	8	22.85%
	Robert Muldoon	5	14.28%

1986 leadership election

	Name	Votes	Percentage
	Jim Bolger	25	65.78%
	Jim McLay	13	34.22%

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.