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The 20th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. It was elected at the 1919 general election in December of that year.
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The 1919 general election was held on Tuesday, 16 December in the Māori electorates and on Wednesday, 17 December in the general electorates, respectively.[1] A total of 80 MPs were elected; 45 represented North Island electorates, 31 represented South Island electorates, and the remaining four represented Māori electorates.[2] 683,420 voters were enrolled and the official turnout at the election was 80.5%.[1]
The 20th Parliament sat for five sessions (there were two sessions in 1912 and 1913, respectively), and was prorogued on 30 November 1922.[3]
| Session | Opened | Adjouned |
|---|---|---|
| first | 24 June 1920 | 11 November 1920 |
| second | 10 March 1921 | 22 March 1921 |
| third | 22 September 1921 | 22 December 1921 |
| fourth | 11 January 1922 | 11 February 1922 |
| fifth | 28 June 1922 | 31 October 1922 |
The wartime coalition between the Reform Party and the Liberal Party had come to an end by August 1919. William Massey of the Reform Party had been the leader of the coalition, with Joseph Ward of the Liberal Party as the deputy.[4] Ward left the coalition because it had become deeply unpopular with the population.[5] Massey then formed the second Massey Ministry on 25 August 1919 and remained in power during the term of the 20th Parliament and beyond until his death on 10 May 1925.[5][6]