Electoral history of David Lange

This is a summary of the electoral history of David Lange, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1984–89), Leader of the Labour Party (1983–89), Member of Parliament for Mangere (1977–96).

Parliamentary elections

1975 election

General election, 1975: Hobson[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Neill Austin	9,559	51.68
	Social Credit	Howard Manning	5,458	29.51	+0.55
	Labour	David Lange	2,703	14.61
	Values	Richard Alspach	774	4.18
Majority			4,101	22.17	+14.93
Turnout			18,494	84.19	+4.22
Registered electors			21,965

1977 by-election

1977 Mangere by-election[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Lange	9,766	58.27
	National	Clem Simich	5,107	30.48
	Social Credit	Bill Owens	1,026	6.10	-0.07
	Values	Frank Grayson	789	4.71	-1.02
	Worker's Labour	Barry Moss	28	0.17
	Alpha	P B Magoffin	18	0.11
	Independent Labour	Barry Shaw	17	0.10
	Socialist Action	Brigid Mulrennan	7	0.04
Majority			4,659	27.80
Turnout			16,758	64.31	-15.35
Registered electors			26,058
	Labour hold		Swing

1978 election

1978 general election: Mangere[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Lange	9,104	66.23	+7.96
	National	Peter Saunders	2,841	20.67
	Social Credit	H J Meiklejohn	1,655	12.04
	Values	V A Strachan	144	1.04
Majority			6,263	45.56	+17.76
Turnout			13,744	63.92	-0.39
Registered electors			21,499

1981 election

1981 general election: Mangere[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Lange	8,739	62.25	-3.98
	Social Credit	John Petit	2,933	20.89
	National	David Perry	2,366	16.85
Majority			5,806	41.35	-4.21
Turnout			14,038	82.57	+18.65
Registered electors			17,001

1984 election

1984 general election: Mangere[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Lange	10,676	72.83	+10.58
	National	Peter Saunders	2,301	15.69
	NZ Party	John Meyer	1,096	7.47
	Social Credit	T J Brooks	584	3.98
Majority			8,375	57.13	+15.78
Turnout			14,657	86.21	+3.64
Registered electors			17,001

1987 election

1987 general election: Mangere[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Lange	8,804	70.60	-2.23
	National	Ron Jeffery	2,785	22.33
	Democrats	Ken Harris	724	5.80
	Mana Motuhake	K K Pene	156	1.25
Majority			6,019	48.27	-8.86
Turnout			12,469	81.35	-4.86
Registered electors			15,326

1990 election

1990 general election: Mangere[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Lange	7,184	51.10	-19.50
	National	Bryan Archer	3,145	22.37
	NewLabour	Len Richards	1,658	11.79
	Green	Brian Edwards	832	5.91
	Democrats	Ken Harris	148	1.05
	Independent	Joshua Deane	55	0.39
Majority			4,039	28.73	-19.54
Turnout			14,058	79.73	-1.62
Registered electors			17,631

1993 election

1993 general election: Mangere[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Lange	8,345	55.12	+4.02
	Alliance	Len Richards	2,387	15.76	+3.97
	NZ First	Bryan Archer	2,037	13.45	-8.92
	National	Hinu Te Hau	1,120	7.39
	Christian Heritage	Clark Nemeth	135	0.89
	Communist League	Karen Davis	84	0.55
	McGillicuddy Serious	Alister Webb	77	0.50
	Natural Law	Grant Bilyard	53	0.35
Majority			5,958	39.36	+10.63
Turnout			15,137	83.00	-3.27
Registered electors			18,237

Leadership elections

1979 Deputy-leadership election

Candidate		Votes	%
	David Lange	20	52.64
	Bob Tizard	18	47.36
Majority		2	5.26
Turnout		38	N/A

1980 Leadership election

Candidate		Votes	%
	Bill Rowling	19	51.40
	David Lange	18	48.60
Majority		1	2.70
Turnout		37	N/A

1983 Leadership election

Candidate		Votes	%
	David Lange	33	78.57
	Russell Marshall	9	21.43
Majority		24	57.14
Turnout		42	N/A

1988 Leadership election

Candidate		Votes	%
	David Lange	38	71.70
	Roger Douglas	15	28.30
Majority		23	43.30
Turnout		53	N/A

Notes

1. Norton 1988, p. 247.
2. Norton 1988, p. 267.
3. Norton 1988, p. 268.
4. Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1990.
5. Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1993.

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.
• Bassett, Michael (2008). Working with David: Inside the Lange Cabinet. Auckland: Hodder Moa. ISBN 978-1-86971-094-1.