1980 East Coast Bays by-election


The East Coast Bays by-election of 1980 was a by-election during the 39th New Zealand Parliament in the East Coast Bays electorate. It resulted in an upset for the National Party, as their candidate and future leader Don Brash was unexpectedly beaten by Gary Knapp of the Social Credit Party.

Background

The Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, appointed Frank Gill, National Party MP for East Coast Bays since the, to take up a position as New Zealand's ambassador to the United States. Muldoon did so against the express wish of Brian Talboys, who was Minister of Foreign Affairs. Shortly before the election, Muldoon raised the tolls on the Auckland Harbour Bridge from 20 cents to 25 cents, which was a very unpopular move. Muldoon was also embroiled in a public spat with various journalists, most notably cartoonist Tom Scott. But most damaging was Muldoon's lack of enthusiasm for National's candidate for the by-election, Don Brash; Muldoon had favoured the party's vice-president Sue Wood.

Results

Voting resulted in the election of Knapp, the candidate of the Social Credit Party. That was unexpected, as minor parties rarely won seats in Parliament at the time, but such voting was more likely in a by-election. Muldoon blamed Brash and the party organisation for the defeat but was strongly rebuked by the party for the stance. The loss of the by-election provided the catalyst for growing opposition within the National Party to Muldoon's leadership.
The following table gives the election results:
Knapp held the electorate until the 1987 general election, when he was defeated by National's Murray McCully.