1993 Tauranga by-election

The Tauranga by-election was a by-election in the New Zealand electorate of Tauranga, a city in New Zealand's North Island. It took place on 17 April 1993, and was precipitated by the resignation from parliament of sitting MP Winston Peters. Peters, who had been increasingly at odds with his National Party colleagues, had resigned both from his party and from Parliament. He contested the seat as an independent.

1993 Tauranga by-election

17 April 1993 (1993-04-17)
Turnout	12,631 (49.08%)
Candidate Winston Peters Greg Pittams Party Independent McGillicuddy Serious Popular vote 11,458 271 Percentage 90.71 2.15
Tauranga in relation to New Zealand
Member before election Winston Peters National Elected Member Winston Peters Independent

Background

None of the major parties contested this election, claiming the upcoming general election was close enough to make the by-election nothing but a publicity stunt. The National Party did not propose a candidate to replace Peters. As expected, Peters won a massive majority, receiving just over ninety percent of the vote. While Peters' grip on Tauranga was so secure at the time that no one believed he would lose, there was some question about what his margin would have been had the other parties challenged him.

Candidates

Eleven candidates stood in the election. None of the three main political parties at the time (the National Party, Labour Party or Alliance) fielded candidates. The candidates were:

• Ian Malcolm Blakie, an Auckland picture framer and art dealer, stood as an independent candidate. He advocated for tax incentives for small businesses, abolition of Maori electorates, reintroducing capital punishment for serious crimes and New Zealand becoming a republic.
• Gary John Barham, an organic farmer of Tauranga, stood under the label "Health for All" (HFA). He was a member of the Green Party and the Toxins Awareness Group which successfully campaigned the Tauranga City Council for a referendum against the use of chemical sprays by the council.
• Ashley Grant Bedford, a Tauranga-based artist, stood for the Help End Marijuana Prohibition (HEMP) movement. A longtime campaigner for legalising Marijuana, his policies were to legalise Marijuana in order to develop a hemp fibre industry in New Zealand.
• Victor Frederick Bryers, a retired engineer, was a candidate for the Christ's Ambassadors Union a party of Christian ideals. Bryers was concerned with rising public debt, high unemployment and crime increases saying that the love of money is the root of all evil. He was a candidate at the recent by-elections in Tamaki and Wellington Central.
• Raymond Alan Campbell, an unemployed man from Rotorua, stood for the Aotearoa Partnership. He stated his party believed New Zealand should be the leading country in Polynesia rather than "a colony of an Asian superpower" and advocated for zero immigration. He was also critical of the selling of revenue earning state assets, lack of political accountability and foreign property ownership.
• Lynne Lee, an Auckland transcendental meditation teacher, was the candidate of the Natural Law Party. She was critical of what she saw as "negative, confrontational and adversarial politics" and wanted to fix the cause of problems rather than the symptoms. In particular she was concerned with lowering crime and improving health and wellbeing of New Zealanders.
• Winston Peters, a lawyer and MP for Tauranga, stood as an independent candidate. Peters had resigned from the National Party a month earlier after he was deselected as the party candidate for Tauranga. He had been publicly opposed to many government decisions which he saw as a betrayal of National's policy pledges at the 1990 election. During the by-election he campaigned for a referendum on the electorate's rights "over the faceless few in Wellington." National had previously attempted to prevent Peters from seeking re-election for any party or label. Peters successfully challenged the party's actions in the High Court in the case Peters v Collinge where the court ruled this interfered with democratic process, making it illegal under common law, and thusly legally unenforceable.
• Gregory Mark Pittams, a 'Jacobite revolutionary' from Auckland, stood for the satirical McGillicuddy Serious Party. Pittams wanted to encourage new crop cultivation by outlawing kiwifruit, potatoes, carrots, brussels sprouts and turnips. At the 1990 election he had stood in the Pakuranga electorate.
• Rhona Sharon Tengblad, an 'Admiral of the Bloke Fleet' from Waiheke Island, stood for the joke party the Blokes' Liberation Front. She pledged to sell the Beehive to the United States to repay national debt, move parliament to Waiheke Island, introduce free apples and milk and appoint Linda McCartney as an advisor to Prime Minister Jim Bolger.
• Peter Keith Wakeman, a Christchurch pilot, stood as an independent candidate. He advocated for a compulsory savings scheme, ending goods and services tax refunds on prepaid travel to New Zealand, improving sex education standards and changing the electoral system to Single transferable vote. He also favoured increased spending on health and education with decreasing spending on defence.
• Peter Richard Watson, an accountant from Waipukurau, was a candidate for the 'Silent Majority'. He was concerned with public spending levels and urged for New Zealanders to become more self-sufficient and less reliant on social spending programmes from central government.

Previous election

1990 general election: Tauranga

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Winston Peters	13,906	65.64	+12.22
	Labour	Bill Delaney	4,592	21.67
	Green	Terry Coles	1,566	7.39
	NewLabour	Muriel Powell	605	2.85
	Social Credit	Trevor Powell	287	1.35
	McGillicuddy Serious	Richard Barr	141	0.66
	Democrats	Douglas Meiklejohn	87	0.41
Majority			9,314	43.96	+32.33
Turnout			21,184	88.07	+0.14
Registered electors			24,052

Results

The following table gives the election results:

1993 Tauranga by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Winston Peters	11,458	90.71	+25.07
	McGillicuddy Serious	Greg Pittams	271	2.15
	Independent	Peter Wakeman	190	1.50
	HFA	Gary Barham	185	1.46
	Silent Majority	Peter Richard Watson	184	1.46
	Independent	Ian Baikie	109	0.86
	Natural Law	Lynne Lee	101	0.80
	HEMP	Ashley Bedford	55	0.44
	Blokes' Liberation Front	Rhona Tengblad	29	0.23
	Aotearoa Partnership	Raymond Campbell	25	0.20
	Christ's Ambassadors Union	Victor Bryers	24	0.19
Informal votes			449	3.43
Majority			11,187	88.57	+44.61
Turnout			13,080	49.08	−38.99
Registered electors			26,651

The distant runner-up in the election was a member of the McGillicuddy Serious Party, a joke party.

References

• Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). Chief Electoral Office. 1993.