New Zealand general election, 1919

1919 general election

16 (Māori) & 17 December (general) 1919

All 80 seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives 41 seats were needed for a majority Turnout 80.5%   First party Second party Third party   Leader William Massey Joseph Ward Harry Holland Party Reform Liberal Labour Leader since 1909 1913 1919 Leader's seat Franklin Awarua (lost seat) Grey Last election 40 seats, 47.1% 34 seats, 43.1% N/A Seats before 39 34 5 Seats won 45 19 8 Seat change 6 15 3 Popular vote 193,676 155,708 131,402 Percentage 35.7% 28.7% 24.2% Swing 11.4% 14.4% 24.2%

Prime Minister before election William Massey Reform Prime Minister-designate William Massey Reform

The New Zealand general election of 1919 was held on Tuesday, 16 December in the Māori electorates, and on Wednesday, 17 December in the general electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 20th session of the New Zealand Parliament. A total number of 560,673 (80.5%) voters turned out to vote.^[1]

In 1919 women won the right to be elected to the House of Representatives. The law was changed late in 1919, and with only three weeks notice, three women stood for Parliament in 1919.

They were Ellen Melville in Grey Lynn, Rosetta Baume in Parnell, and Mrs Aileen Cooke in Thames. Ellen Melville stood for the Reform Party and came second. She stood for Parliament several more times, but while generally polling well she never won a seat.

Results

Though Labour Party captured only eight seats it received a quarter of the votes – a shock to conservative minds due to Labour being founded only three years earlier in 1916. ^[2]

Party totals

1. ↑ Includes one MP returned unopposed, and one Independent Liberal
2. ↑ Includes ex-members of the three main parties as well as long-standing Independents

Votes summary

Electorate results

The results of the 1919 general election displayed outside The Press Building in Christchurch

The table below shows the results of the 1919 general election:

Key

Summary of changes

A boundary redistribution resulted in the abolition of four electorates:^[14]

• Grey, held by Harry Holland
• Otago Central, held by Robert Scott
• Selwyn, held by William Dickie
• Taumarunui, held by William Thomas Jennings
• Wellington Suburbs and Country, held by Robert Alexander Wright

At the same time, four new electorates were created:^[15][16]

• Manawatu, previously abolished in 1911
• Roskill, first created through the 1918 electoral redistribution
• Rotorua, first created through the 1918 electoral redistribution
• Waitomo, first created through the 1918 electoral redistribution
• Wellington Suburbs, previously abolished in 1911

Notes

References

• Gustafson, Barry (1980). Labour's path to political independence: The Origins and Establishment of the New Zealand Labour Party, 1900–19. Auckland, New Zealand: Auckland University Press. ISBN 0-19-647986-X. 
• Lipson, Leslie (2011) [1948]. The Politics of Equality: New Zealand’s Adventures in Democracy. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 978-0-86473-646-8. 
• McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8. 
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103. 

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