1967 Palmerston North by-election

The Palmerston North by-election of 1967 was a by-election for the electorate of Palmerston North on 2 December 1967 during the 35th New Zealand Parliament.

Background
The by-election resulted from the death of the sitting member Bill Brown of the National Party on 16 October 1967. Brown had held the seat since 1960, when he won it from Philip Skoglund of the Labour Party.

Candidates
The Labour Party ran Joe Walding, its candidate at the previous election, for the by-election. Walding, a food exporter and Palmerston North City Councillor since 1959, had polled well in the 1966 election where he led the count on election night, but special votes tipped to give Brown a 259 vote victory.
 * Labour

The National Party selected Palmerston North City Councillor Gordon Cruden as its candidate.
 * National

The Social Credit Party had four nominees to stand in the seat. Three withdrew in favour of the party's deputy leader John O'Brien. In the previous three elections he had contested the electorate.
 * Social Credit

Jamie Wedderspoon, a 22-year-old political science student at Victoria University, stood as a candidate. Wedderspoon, who was a member of the Labour Party for 6½ years, disagreed on Labour's position of opposing the Vietnam War and believed that New Zealand should keep troops in Vietnam to fight communist expansion.
 * Others

The newly formed centrist Democratic Progress Party selected Mr J. Goldingham, the manager of the Palmerston North branch of a sewing machine company, as their candidate.

Results
The following table contains the election results:

The by-election was won by Joe Walding of the Labour Party, and he held the seat for the next two elections, 1969 and 1972.