1919 New Zealand general election

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 11 February 1909 11 September 1913 27 August 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.

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 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 nearly a quarter of the votes – a shock to conservative minds due to Labour being founded only three years earlier in 1916.

Party totals

Election results
Party		Candidates	Total votes	Percentage	Seats won
Template:Meta color	Reform Party	67	197,041	35.63	45
Template:Meta color	Liberal Party	66	166,675	30.14	19
Template:Meta color	Labour Party	59	134,094	24.25	8
Template:Meta color	Independents	39	55,161	9.98	8
Total valid votes			552,971		80
Informal votes			7,702	1.37
Registered voters			683,420

Votes summary

Popular Vote Reform   35.63% Liberal   30.14% Labour   24.25% Independents   9.98%

Parliament seats Reform   56.25% Liberal   23.75% Labour   10.00% Independents   10.00%

Electorate results

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

Summary of changes

A boundary redistribution resulted in the abolition of four electorates:

• 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:

• 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

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. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Lipson, Leslie (2011) [1948]. The Politics of Equality: New Zealand’s Adventures in Democracy. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 978-0-86473-646-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• 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)