| Election Name: | 1967 Fendalton by-election |
| Country: | New Zealand |
| Flag Year: | 1967 |
| Type: | presidential |
| Previous Election: | 1966 New Zealand general election |
| Previous Year: | 1966 general |
| Next Election: | 1969 New Zealand general election |
| Next Year: | 1969 general |
| Turnout: | 15,213 (73.56%) |
| Candidate1: | Eric Holland |
| Party1: | New Zealand National Party |
| Popular Vote1: | 7,024 |
| Percentage1: | 46.17 |
| Candidate2: | Bruce Barclay |
| Party2: | New Zealand Labour Party |
| Popular Vote2: | 6,738 |
| Percentage2: | 44.29 |
| MP | |
| Before Election: | Harry Lake |
| Before Party: | New Zealand National Party |
| After Election: | Eric Holland |
| After Party: | New Zealand National Party |
The Fendalton by-election of 1967 was a by-election for the electorate of Fendalton on 15 April 1967 during the 35th New Zealand Parliament.
It was held the same day as another by-election in Petone.[1]
The by-election resulted from the death of the previous member the Hon Harry Lake on 21 February 1967; Lake had been Minister of Finance since 1960, a rapid rise to an important ministerial post. He died suddenly of a heart attack aged 55 years.[2]
Barclay was selected. He had contested Fendalton for Labour at both of the previous two general elections. His father Jim Barclay was a Labour MP from 1935 to 1943 and his cousin Ron Barclay had been elected MP for in 1966.[3]
Holland was chosen as the National Party's candidate after winning a ballot of 180 party members from the electorate.[4] His father Sidney Holland had previously represented Fendalton from 1946 until 1957 and was Prime Minister from 1949 to 1957 when he retired.
The following table gives the election results:
The by-election was won by Eric Holland, also of the National Party. Holland was the son of former prime minister Sidney Holland. Despite being a safe National seat, the election night results had a 67-vote majority to Labour's candidate Bruce Barclay, the shock result prompted Leader of the Opposition Norman Kirk to declare that National had lost its mandate to govern.[6] However after 1,300 special votes were counted National did manage to hold the seat by just 286 votes a swing of over 5% to Labour.