Christchurch Central by-election, 1979

Christchurch Central by-election, 1979

← 1978 general 18 August 1979 (1979-08-18) 1981 general →
Turnout	9,578
Candidate Geoffrey Palmer Terry Heffernan D P Duncan Party Labour Social Credit National Popular vote 6,149 1,759 1,634 Percentage 64.20% 18.37% 17.06
Member before election Bruce Barclay Labour Elected Member Geoffrey Palmer Labour

Bruce Barclay
Labour

Geoffrey Palmer
Labour

The Christchurch Central by-election of 1979 was a by-election during the 39th New Zealand Parliament. It was prompted by the death of Bruce Barclay, a Labour Party MP, and resulted in Geoffrey Palmer, also of the Labour Party, being elected to replace him for the seat of Christchurch Central. Palmer would eventually go on to become Prime Minister. The by-election was somewhat embarrassing for the National Party, whose candidate was pushed into third place by Social Credit's Terry Heffernan.

The following table gives the election results:

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