East Coast Bays by-election, 1980

East Coast Bays by-election, 1980

← 1978 general 6 September 1980 1981 general →
Turnout	18,611
Candidate Gary Knapp Don Brash Wyn Hoadley Party Social Credit National Labour Popular vote 8,061 7,110 3,296 Percentage 43.31 38.20 17.71
Member before election Frank Gill National Elected Member Gary Knapp Social Credit

Frank Gill
National

Gary Knapp
Social Credit

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.

The Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, appointed Frank Gill, National Party MP for East Coast Bays since the 1972 election, 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.

...
Wikipedia