New Zealand by-election
The 1953 North Dunedin by-election was a by-election held during the 30th New Zealand Parliament in the Dunedin electorate of North Dunedin. The by-election occurred following the death of MP Robert Walls and was won by Ethel McMillan.
Background.
Robert Walls, who was first elected to represent Dunedin North (the electorate's previous and subsequent name) for the Labour Party in the 1945 by-election, died on 6 November 1953. This triggered the North Dunedin by-election, which was held on 12 December 1953.
Candidates.
There were six nominations for the Labour Party nomination:
The Deputy Mayor of Dunedin and former Minister of Defence, Fred Jones, was also speculated as a candidate, but it was thought more likely he would seek nomination for the St Kilda electorate at the scheduled general election. Connelly, McMillan and Stead were seen as the frontrunners to win nomination. McMillan was chosen as the candidate.
Walter Phillips MacDougall was selected as the candidate for the National Party. He was National's candidate for Dunedin Central in 1951.
Previous election.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
 |- class="vcard"
 |- class="vcard"
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
 
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
 
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" scope=row | Registered electors
Results.
The following table gives the election results:
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" | Majority
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
 
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" scope=row | Registered electors
McMillan obtained 61.96% of the votes and was successful. McMillan became the first woman to represent Dunedin North and would represent the electorate until the 1975 election, when she was defeated against Richard Walls of the National Party.
Notes.
 ;templatestyles src="Reflist/styles.css" / ;