New Zealand by-election
The Hurunui by-election 1961 was a by-election held in the Hurunui electorate in North Canterbury during the term of the 33rd New Zealand Parliament, on 10 June 1961.
The by-election was caused by the death of incumbent MP William Gillespie of the National Party on 23 April 1961.
Candidates.
The Labour Party selected Arthur Alexander Adcock as its candidate. Adcock, a railway worker, was secretary of the local Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants branch and a member of the Waimairi County Council. He had contested the seat in 1960 against Gillespie.
There were several names put forward as potential nominees for the National Party candidacy:
Ultimately Pickering was chosen to contest the seat.
The Social Credit Party selected Malcolm Jack Clark, an engineer from Waikari, as its candidate for the seat.
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" / ;±%
 |- class="vcard"
 |- 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
! style="text-align:right;" | Swing
The by-election was won by Lorrie Pickering.
Notes.
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