1996 Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives election

1996 Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives election

12 December 1996

Candidate Doug Kidd Jonathan Hunt Party National Labour Popular vote 70 50 Percentage 58.33 41.66

Speaker before election Peter Tapsell Labour Elected Speaker Doug Kidd National

The 1996 election of the Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives occurred on 12 December 1996, following the 1996 general election result. The election saw the incumbent speaker Peter Tapsell lose his parliamentary seat. It resulted in the election of National Party MP Doug Kidd as Speaker. It was the first time a vote for speaker had been contested since 1923.

Nominated candidates

Two candidates were nominated:

• Rt Hon Jonathan Hunt, List MP – Labour Party
• Hon Doug Kidd, MP for Kaikoura – National Party

Derek Quigley, the deputy leader of the ACT Party, also intended to stand as a candidate but ultimately did not put forward his name for nomination.

Election

The election was conducted by means of a conventional parliamentary motion. The Clerk of the House of Representatives conducted a vote on the question of the election of the Speaker, in accordance with Standing Order 19.

The following table gives the election results:

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	National	Doug Kidd	70	58.33
	Labour	Jonathan Hunt	50	41.66
Majority			20	16.66
Turnout			120	—

How each MP voted:

Ian Revell was elected deputy speaker on 13 December by 61 votes to 58 over Jonathan Hunt. National and New Zealand First voted for Revell with Labour, the Alliance and ACT voting for Hunt.