Electoral history of Jim Bolger

This is a summary of the electoral history of Jim Bolger, Prime Minister of New Zealand (1990–97), Leader of the National Party (1986–97), and Member of Parliament for King Country (1972–96) then Taranaki-King Country (1996–97).

Parliamentary elections

1972 election

General election, 1972: King Country[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Jim Bolger	7,107	48.0
	Labour	Brent Clifton Sakey	5,867	39.6
	Social Credit	Derek Mason	1,351	9.1
	Liberal Reform	Saxby John Telfer	191	1.3
	Independent	Richard Alan Soundy	185	1.3
	New Democratic	John William Norman	111	0.7
Majority			1,240	8.4
Turnout			17,014	87.5

1975 election

General election, 1975: King Country[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Jim Bolger	9,180	56.1	+8.1
	Labour	Thomas David Varnham	4,864	29.8
	Social Credit	Derek Mason	1,759	10.8	+1.7
	Values	Richard Louis Osborn	546	3.3
Majority			4,316	26.3	+17.9
Turnout			20,440	80.3	-7.2

1978 election

General election, 1978: King Country[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Jim Bolger	6,804	44.6	-11.5
	Labour	Leo Menfy	4,034	26.5
	Social Credit	Derek Mason	3,997	26.2	+15.4
	Values	R Azariah	409	2.7
Majority			2,770	18.1	-8.2
Turnout			23,726	64.5	-15.8

1981 election

General election, 1981: King Country[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Jim Bolger	7,937	49.1	+4.5
	Social Credit	Derek Mason	5,779	35.7	+9.2
	Labour	Pai Tahere	2,460	15.2
Majority			2,158	13.4	-4.7
Turnout			18,878	86.0	+21.5

1984 election

General election, 1984: King Country[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Jim Bolger	10,040	55.1	+6.0
	Labour	J E Simons	4,423	24.3
	Social Credit	Derek Mason	2,027	11.1	-24.6
	NZ Party	Graham Short	1,580	8.7
	Values	Peter Winter	139	0.8
Majority			5,617	30.8	+17.4
Turnout			20,477	91.0	+5.0

1987 election

General election, 1987: King Country[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Jim Bolger	10,942	64.2	+9.1
	Labour	Leo Menfy	4,988	29.3
	Democrats	Wayne Campbell Robert Morris	1,115	6.5
Majority			5,954	34.9	+4.1
Turnout			20,143	86.4	-4.6

1990 election

General election, 1990: King Country[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Jim Bolger	10,406	64.4	+0.2
	Labour	Cameron Gordon	3,132	19.4
	Green	Laurence Cadman	1,368	8.4
	NewLabour	Dion Martin	497	3.0
	Social Credit	Mervyn Williamson	496	3.0
	McGillicuddy Serious	Craig Louis Simmons	107	0.6
	Democrats	Steven Wilton	77	0.4
	Imperial British Conservative	Kate McDonald	53
Majority			7,274	45.0	+10.1
Turnout			16,136

1993 election

General election, 1993: King Country[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Jim Bolger	8,396	51.8	-12.6
	Labour	Murray Simpson	3,890	24.0
	Alliance	Ian Herbert	3,518	21.7
	Christian Heritage	Mark Anthony Jones	539	3.3
	McGillicuddy Serious	Anand Hasyo	220	1.3
	Natural Law	Euan Frederick Williams	115	0.7
Majority			4,506	27.8	-17.2
Turnout			16,678

1996 election

General election, 1996: Taranaki-King Country[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Jim Bolger	14,934	54.0
	NZ First	Robin Ord	4,711	17.0
	Labour	Peter Calvert	3,575	12.9
	Alliance	Kevin Campbell	2,560	9.2
	ACT	Trevor Johnson	902	3.2
	McGillicuddy Serious	Anand Hasyo	288	1.0
	Independent	Brett Power	209	0.7
	Natural Law	Joanna Greig	101	0.3
	Mana Māori	Jackie Amohanga	74	0.2
Majority			10,223	37.0
Turnout			27,611

Leadership elections

1981 deputy leadership election

First ballot

	Name	Votes	Percentage
	Derek Quigley	23	46.00%
	Duncan MacIntyre	20	40.00%
	Jim Bolger	7	14.00%

Second ballot

	Name	Votes	Percentage
	Duncan MacIntyre	26	52.00%
	Derek Quigley	24	48.00%

1984 deputy leadership election

	Name	Votes	Percentage
	Jim McLay	25	53.19%
	Jim Bolger	15	31.91%
	Bill Birch	7	14.89%

1984 leadership election

	Name	Votes	Percentage
	Jim McLay	22	62.85%
	Jim Bolger	8	22.85%
	Robert Muldoon	5	14.28%

1986 leadership election

	Name	Votes	Percentage
	Jim Bolger	25	65.78%
	Jim McLay	13	34.22%

Notes

1. Norton 1988, pp. 262.
2. Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1990.
3. Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1993.
4. "Electorate Candidate and Party Votes Recorded at Each Polling Place – Taranaki-King Country, 1996" (PDF). Retrieved 30 December 2016.

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.