1947 Avon by-election


The 1947 Avon by-election was a by-election held during the 28th New Zealand Parliament in the Christchurch electorate of Avon. The by-election occurred following the death of MP Dan Sullivan and was won by John Mathison.

Background

, who was first elected to represent Avon for the Labour Party in 1919, died on 8 April 1947. This triggered the Avon by-election, which occurred on 28 May 1947.
John Mathison was the candidate for the Labour Party. He was selected over five other aspirants; Nurse A. Mackwell, A. J. Jones, Archie Grant, George Manning and Alan Williams.
Robert Alexander McDowell was the candidate for the National Party and John Ramby Robertson was an independent candidate. Robertson was a member of the Democratic Labour Party but his nomination was refused endorsement by DLP leader John A. Lee. Robertson had stood unsuccessfully as a DLP candidate for the Christchurch City Council in 1944.
Mathison obtained 65.31% of the votes and was successful.

Previous election

Results

The following table gives the election results: