In 1989, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington plus other local government positions including twenty-one city councillors.

[1] The race for the mayoralty was bitterly fought with both sides of local politics in Wellington fighting internal divisions as well as each other.

Mayor Jim Belich stood for a second term opposed by his former deputy Helene Ritchie who had left Labour after she was removed as deputy-mayor the previous year.

The Labour Party had lost its majority from three years earlier with the Citizens' Association winning a plurality and becoming the largest group on the council.

Stephen Rainbow won a seat in the Lambton Ward and became the country's first ever Green councillor.