| Election Name: | 1980 East Coast Bays by-election |
| Country: | New Zealand |
| Flag Year: | 1980 |
| Type: | presidential |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1978 New Zealand general election |
| Previous Year: | 1978 general |
| Next Election: | 1981 New Zealand general election |
| Next Year: | 1981 general |
| Election Date: | 6 September 1980 |
| Turnout: | 18,611 (63.64%) |
| Candidate1: | Gary Knapp |
| Party1: | Social Credit Party (New Zealand) |
| Popular Vote1: | 8,061 |
| Percentage1: | 43.31 |
| Candidate2: | Don Brash |
| Party2: | New Zealand National Party |
| Popular Vote2: | 7,110 |
| Percentage2: | 38.20 |
| Candidate3: | Wyn Hoadley |
| Party3: | New Zealand Labour Party |
| Popular Vote3: | 3,296 |
| Percentage3: | 17.71 |
| Member | |
| Before Election: | Frank Gill |
| After Election: | Gary Knapp |
| Before Party: | New Zealand National Party |
| After Party: | Social Credit Party (New Zealand) |
The East Coast Bays by-election of 1980 was a by-election during the 39th New Zealand Parliament in the East Coast Bays electorate. It resulted in an upset for the National Party, as their candidate and future leader Don Brash was unexpectedly beaten by Gary Knapp of the Social Credit Party.
The Prime Minister, Robert Muldoon, appointed Frank Gill, National Party MP for East Coast Bays since the, to take up a position as New Zealand's ambassador to the United States. Muldoon did so against the express wish of Brian Talboys, who was Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Secretary of the Auckland National Party John Tremewan said the 12 candidates would be narrowed to 5.[3] Prior to the selection meeting three candidates were identified as the most likely to win; Brash, Rayner and Wood.[4] Based on her performance as National's candidate three months earlier at the Onehunga by-election party president George Chapman stated Wood "should be in Parliament and as soon as possible" by being a candidate in a safe seat. As there was already speculation at the time about Gill's retirement, media commented that Chapman was hinting as East Coast Bays.[5] Brash, Miller, Rayner, Walls and Wood were the shortlisted candidates.[6] This was later further shortened to four after Walls was hospitalised and was too ill to travel to Auckland for the selection meeting.[7]
Brash won selection on the first ballot. It was not only a surprise for him to win, especially on the first ballot, but also to media as he had only joined the National Party six months earlier and was publicly critical of Muldoon's last budget.[8] [9]
Shortly before the election, Muldoon raised the tolls on the Auckland Harbour Bridge from 20 cents to 25 cents, which was a very unpopular move.[11] The Labour Party had ongoing problems with their billboards being vandalised.[12] Muldoon was also embroiled in a public spat with various journalists, most notably cartoonist Tom Scott. But most damaging was Muldoon's lack of enthusiasm for National's candidate for the by-election, Don Brash; Muldoon had favoured the party's vice-president Sue Wood. Tactical voting by Labour supporters was partly responsible for the upset. Many also believed that Muldoon, who had no time for his economist candidate, put up the tolls on the harbour bridge just before the contest with the intention of derailing Brash's campaign. Chief aming Muldoon's gripes with Brash was that he had recently hosted the New Zealand visit of arch-monetarist Milton Friedman whose economic ideas were contrary to Muldoon's policies.[13] [14]
Voting resulted in the election of Knapp, the candidate of the Social Credit Party. That was unexpected, as minor parties rarely won seats in Parliament at the time, but such voting was more likely in a by-election. Muldoon blamed Brash and the party organisation for the defeat but was strongly rebuked by the party for the stance. The loss of the by-election provided the catalyst for growing opposition within the National Party to Muldoon's leadership.
The following table gives the election results:
Knapp held the electorate until the 1987 general election, when he was defeated by National's Murray McCully.