1905 New Zealand general election

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1905 general election
← 1902 6 (general) & 20 December (Māori) 1905 1908 →
All 80 seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives
41 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout83.3%
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Richard Seddon William Massey George Laurenson
Party Liberal Conservative New Liberal
Leader since 28 April 1893 11 September 1903 1905
Leader's seat Westland Franklin Lyttelton
Last election 47 seats 19 seats not yet founded
Seats before 42 seats 21 seats 4
Seats won 58 16 2
Seat change Increase 16 Decrease 5 Decrease 2
Popular vote 219,144 122,572 15,721
Percentage 53.1 29.7 3.8
Swing Increase 1.3 Increase 9.1 Increase 3.8
Prime Minister before election

Richard Seddon
Liberal

Prime Minister-designate

Richard Seddon
Liberal

The New Zealand general election of 1905 was held on Wednesday, 6 December in the general electorates, and on Wednesday, 20 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 16th session of the New Zealand Parliament. A total number of 412,702 voters turned out, with 396,657 (83.25% of the electoral roll) voting in the European electorates.[1][2][3]

Changes to the electoral law

The 1903 City Single Electorates Act declared that at the dissolution of the 15th Parliament, the four multi-member electorates would be abolished and replaced each with three single-member electorates.[4] It was also the year absentee voting was introduced for all electors unable to be in their own electorate on election day. The first Chief Electoral Officer was appointed.

Accordingly, the multi-member urban electorates of City of Auckland, City of Christchurch, City of Dunedin and City of Wellington were abolished and replaced with the following single-member seats:

Nine of these twelve electorates had existed before. Wellington Central, Wellington North, and Dunedin North were established for the first time.[5]

Historic context

In 1905 a progressive faction within the Liberal Party started to form in opposition to Liberal leader Richard Seddon's policies. They announced that they would stand in the election as the New Liberal Party, however an accusation against Seddon's son, when disproven saw most of the dissidents return to the Liberal Party, and of the four New Liberals (George Laurenson, Francis Fisher, Harry Bedford and Tommy Taylor) that stood in the election only Laurenson and Fisher were returned.

The freshly created Independent Political Labour League also contested the election as a breakaway faction from the Liberals. It was the first of many steps of a gradual move by urban labourers shifting allegiance to an independent working-class political party. Previously, most workers had supported the Liberal Party, which since the 1890s had attempted to gain Trade Union support by appointing union representatives to the party's governing body. The IPLL did not perform well, gaining only 3,478 votes nationwide with no candidates elected.[6]

The Rev Frank Isitt was the Prohibition candidate for several South Island electorates, and came second in two.

Results

A cartoon depicting the infamous "Voucher incident" showing New Liberals distancing themselves from Fisher.

Party totals

The following table gives party strengths and vote distribution.[7]

style="width: 2px; background-color: #FFDF00;" data-sort-value="New Zealand Liberal Party" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #9999CC;" data-sort-value="Conservative (New Zealand)" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #DDBB00;" data-sort-value="New Liberal Party (New Zealand)" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #CC0033;" data-sort-value="Independent Political Labour League" | style="width: 2px; background-color: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent politician" |
Election results
Party Candidates Total votes Percentage Seats won Change
Liberal 94 219,144 53.1 58 +11
Conservative 63 122,572 29.7 16 -3
New Liberal 7 15,721 3.8 2 +2
Ind. Labour League 9 3,478 0.8 0 ±0
Independent 63 51,785 12.5 4 -10

Votes summary

Popular Vote
Liberal
 
 53.1%
Conservative
 
 29.7%
New Liberal
 
 3.8%
Ind. Labour League
 
 0.8%
Independents
 
 12.5%
Parliament seats
Liberal
 
 72.5%
Conservative
 
 20.0%
New Liberal
 
 2.5%
Independents
 
 5.0%

Electorate results

Template:1905 New Zealand general election

Notes

  1. ^ "New Zealand Elections 1905-1943". NZES. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  2. ^ "General elections 1853-2005 - dates & turnout". Elections New Zealand. Archived from the original on 14 November 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2011.
  3. ^ "Results of the Polls". Ashburton Guardian. 7 December 1905. p. 2. Retrieved 24 August 2011.
  4. ^ McRobie 1989, p. 67.
  5. ^ Wilson 1985, pp. 262, 276.
  6. ^ Paul 1946, p. 176.
  7. ^ Wilson 1985, pp. 287–289.

References

  • McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Paul, J.T. (1946). Humanism in Politics. Wellington: NZ Working Printing & Publishing.
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