In 1974, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington plus other local government positions including eighteen city councillors.

With a provisional majority that was small enough to be potentially eroded by special votes the final result was not known for nearly a month following several re-counts due to the closeness of the polling.

Michael Fowler had an election night lead of 387 while over 4,000 special votes were cast which ended up being very evenly distributed between the two top contenders.

[1] In the end Fowler's majority was reduced by only 20 votes and he was duly declared elected as Wellington's new mayor.

[2] Sir Frank Kitts lost the Mayoralty after a record 18 years in the role, though he was still re-elected to the Wellington Harbour Board.