New Zealand general election, 1922

1922 general election

6 (Māori) & 7 December (general) 1922

All 80 seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives 41 seats needed for a majority Turnout 87.7%   First party Second party Third party   Leader William Massey Thomas Wilford Harry Holland Party Reform Liberal Labour Leader since 1909 1920 1919 Leader's seat Franklin Hutt Buller Last election 45 seats, 35.7% 19 seats, 28.7% 8 seats, 24.2% Seats won 37 22 17 Seat change 8 3 9 Popular vote 249,735 166,708 150,448 Percentage 39.4% 26.3% 23.7% Swing 3.7% 2.4% 0.5%

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

The New Zealand general election of 1922 was held on Monday, 6 December in the Māori electorates, and on Tuesday, 7 December in the general electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 21st session of the New Zealand Parliament. A total number of 700,111 (87.7%) voters turned out to vote.^[1] In one seat (Bay of Plenty) there was only one candidate.^[2][3]

1922 was the year residents of the Chatham Islands were enfranchised for the first time (included in Lyttelton and Western Māori electorates).

Result

Labour Party candidates in the 1922 election

William Massey formed a government, but with the loss in support for the Reform Party he had to negotiate for support with Independents, and with two Liberal Party members.^[4]

Liberal was in decline and disorganised. Just before the 1925 election (held on 4 November), two Liberal MPs from Christchurch who had supported Massey (along with Independents Harry Atmore and Allen Bell) were appointed to the Legislative Council. They were Leonard Isitt and George Witty who were both appointed to the Legislative Council by Gordon Coates on 28 October 1925. Both were Liberals and their retirement removed "a source of some bitterness from the Party’s ranks (Coates rewarded them with seats in the Legislative Council the day after the election)".^[5] Gordon Coates was Reform, and both of their seats went to Reform candidates in 1925.

Party Totals

Party totals

*Note: For numbers of candidates see Wilson (1985) p295; for numbers of votes and percentage see Wilson (1985) p289. Electorate results given below include 38 Reform and 21 Liberal members. The figures given in the table agree with Mackie and Rose, as well as the article on New Zealand elections.

Votes summary

Electorate results

The results of the 1922 election were as follows:

Key

  Reform     Liberal     Labour     Independent Liberal     Independent  

Summary of changes

A boundary redistribution resulted in the abolition of one seat:

• Bruce, held by John Edie

At the same time, one new seat was created:

• Hamilton

Notes

References

• Bassett, Michael (1982). Three Party Politics in New Zealand 1911–1931. Auckland: Historical Publications. ISBN 0-86870-006-1. 
• Chapman, Robert M. (1948). The Significance of the 1928 General Election: A Study in Certain Trends in New Zealand Politics During the Nineteen-Twenties (Thesis). Massey University. 
• Chapman, Robert M. (1969). The Political Scene 1919–1931. Heinemann. 
• Hislop, J. (1923). The General Election, 1922. Government Printer. Retrieved 20 November 2014. 
• Mackie, Thomas T.; Rose, Richard (1991). The International Almanac of Electoral History (3rd ed.). Macmillan. 
• 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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