1905 general election

6 (general) & 20 December (Māori) 1905
All 80 seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives 41 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	83.3%
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 16 5 2 Popular vote 219,144 122,572 15,721 Percentage 53.1 29.7 3.8 Swing 1.3 9.1 3.8
Results of the election.
Premier before election Richard Seddon Liberal Subsequent Premier Richard Seddon Liberal

The 1905 New Zealand general election 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:

• Auckland Central
• Auckland East
• Auckland West
• Christchurch East
• Christchurch North
• Christchurch South
• Wellington Central
• Wellington East
• Wellington North
• Dunedin Central
• Dunedin North
• Dunedin South

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]

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

Electorate results

The following are the results of the 1905 general election:

Key

  Liberal   Conservative   New Liberal   Liberal–Labour   Independent Liberal   Independent

Notes

References

• 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.
• Paul, J.T. (1946). Humanism in Politics. Wellington: NZ Working Printing & Publishing.