1896 New Zealand general election

1896 general election

4 (general) & 19 December (Māori) 1896
All 74 seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	76.1%
First party Second party   Leader Richard Seddon William Russell Party Liberal Conservative Leader since 28 April 1893 26 June 1894 Leader's seat Westland Hawke's Bay Last election 51 seats 13 seats Seats won 39 26 Seat change 12 13 Popular vote 184,650 114,574 Percentage 54.78 33.99 Swing 3.02% 9.50
Results of the election.
Prime Minister before election Richard Seddon Liberal Prime Minister-designate Richard Seddon Liberal

The New Zealand general election of 1896 was held on Wednesday, 4 December in the general electorates, and on Thursday, 19 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 74 MPs to the 13th session of the New Zealand Parliament. A total number of 337,024 (76.1%) voters turned out to vote.

1896 was the year the limit of £200 was placed on each candidate's campaign spending.

Background

The Liberal government campaigned on a platform that the election was between the people and the "selfish few". The economy stagnated, raising unemployment, which caused support for the Liberals to fall in the cities and they lost many seats, though not enough to be removed from office by the Conservatives. In rural areas, the swing in support was not as large due to the public works and land settlement programmes helping to support the regions. In June 1896 Seddon had replaced Joseph Ward as Finance Minister whilst the latter had resigned after being declared temporarily bankrupt. As such Seddon himself took on the workload of the treasury making him more susceptible to opposition attacks over the economy. He proved to be a cautious financier, budgeting for surpluses while maintaining the spirit of self reliance his predecessor John Ballance had advocated.

Results

Party totals

The following table gives party strengths and vote distribution according to Wilson (1985), who records Maori representatives as Independents prior to the 1905 election.

style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #FFDF00;" data-sort-value="New Zealand Liberal Party" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #9999CC;" data-sort-value="Conservative (New Zealand)" | style="width: 2px; color:inherit; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent politician" |

Election results
Party		Candidates	Total votes	Percentage	Seats won	Change
Liberal	81	184,650	54.78%	39	-12
Conservative	70	114,574	33.99%	26	+13
Independent	60	37,800	11.23%	9	-1

Votes summary

Popular Vote Liberal   54.78% Conservative   33.99% Independents   11.23%

Parliament seats Liberal   52.70% Conservative   35.13% Independents   12.16%

The election of Thomas Wilford for the electorate of Suburbs of Wellington was declared void by an election petition on the grounds of corrupt and illegal practices. Charles Wilson was elected MP for that electorate following a by-election on 23 April 1897.

Summary of changes

• A boundary redistribution resulted in the abolition of seven seats:
  • Chalmers, held by John A. Millar
  • Inangahua, held by Patrick O'Regan
  • New Plymouth, held by Edward Smith
  • Pareora, held by Frederick Flatman
  • Rangitata, held by William Maslin
  • Waimea-Sounds, held by Charles Mills
  • Waipa, held by Frederic Lang
• At the same time, seven new seats came into being:
  • Geraldine
  • Hawera
  • Manawatu
  • Motueka
  • Ohinemuri
  • Pahiatua
  • Taranaki

References

• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand parliamentary record, 1840–1984 (4 ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
• Hamer, David A. (1988). The New Zealand Liberals: The Years of Power, 1891–1912. Auckland: Auckland University Press. ISBN 1-86940-014-3.