1899 New Zealand general election

1899 general election

6 (general) & 19 December (Māori) 1899
All 74 seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	77.6%
First party Second party   Leader Richard Seddon William Russell Party Liberal Conservative Leader since 28 April 1893 26 June 1894 Leader's seat Westland Hawkes Bay Last election 39 seats 26 seats Seats won 49 19 Seat change 10 7 Popular vote 204,331 141,758 Percentage 52.71% 36.67% Swing 2.07 2.68
Prime Minister before election Richard Seddon Liberal Prime Minister-designate Richard Seddon Liberal

The New Zealand general election of 1899 was held on 6 and 19 December in the European and Māori electorates, respectively, to elect 74 MPs to the 14th session of the New Zealand Parliament. The election was again won by the Liberal Party, and Richard Seddon remained Prime Minister.

1896 electoral redistribution

The last electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1896 for the 1896 election, and the same electorates were used again. 34 seats were located in the North Island, 36 were in the South Island, and the remaining four were Māori electorates. Since the 1890 electoral redistribution, the four main centres had electorates with three seats each.

The election

The 1899 election was held on Wednesday, 6 December in the general electorates, and on Tuesday, 19 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 74 MPs to the 14th Parliament. A total number of 373,744 (77.6%) voters turned out to vote. In three electorates there was only one candidate, and they were thus returned unopposed. Two of those were Liberal candidates: Richard Seddon in the Westland electorate, and John McKenzie in the Waihemo electorate. The third was an opposition representative, William Russell, who stood in the Hawke's Bay electorate.

Two candidates died during the election campaign. A third, Henry Augustus Field, died two days after having been re-elected in the Otaki electorate.

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; 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: #DCDCDC;" data-sort-value="Independent politician" |

Election results
Party		Candidates	Total votes	Percentage	Seats won	Change
Liberal	86	204,331	52.71	49	+10
Conservative	69	141,758	36.67	19	-7
Independent	43	41,540	10.72	6	-3

Votes summary

Popular Vote Liberal   52.71% Conservative   36.67% Independents   10.72%

Parliament seats Liberal   66.22% Conservative   25.67% Independents   8.11%

Electorate results

Seventy-four MPs were elected across sixty-two single-member, and four three-member electorates. Template:1899 New Zealand general election

References

• McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Scholefield, Guy, ed. (1940a). A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography : A–L (PDF). Vol. I. Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 6 October 2013. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Scholefield, Guy, ed. (1940b). A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography : M–Addenda (PDF). Vol. II. Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 6 October 2013. {{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)