New Zealand general election, 1928

New Zealand general election, 1928

13 (Māori) & 14 November (general) 1928

All 80 seats in the House of Representatives 41 seats were needed for a majority Turnout 88.01%   First party Second party   Leader Gordon Coates Sir Joseph Ward Party Reform United Leader since 1925 1928 Leader's seat Kaipara Invercargill Last election 55 seats, 47.7% 11 seats, 22.4% Seats won 27 27 Seat change 28 16 Popular vote 263,382 225,042 Percentage 34.82% 29.75% Swing 9.97% 7.26%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Harry Holland Harold Rushworth Party Labour Country Party Leader since 1919 Leader's seat Buller Last election 12 seats, 27.2% 0, 0.35% Seats won 19 1 Seat change 7 1 Popular vote 198,092 11,990 Percentage 26.19% 1.59% Swing 3.50% 1.24%

Prime Minister before election Gordon Coates Reform Prime Minister-designate Joseph Ward United

The New Zealand general election of 1928 was held on 13 and 14 November in the Māori and European electorates, respectively, to elect 80 MPs to the 23rd session of the New Zealand Parliament.

1928 was the year postal voting was introduced for certain specified groups (e.g. invalids) who could not get to a polling booth on election day.

In 1927, a faction of the decaying Liberal Party formed a new organisation, which was eventually named the United Party. In 1928, to the considerable surprise of most observers and many members of the party itself, United won a considerable victory, taking Auckland East and Grey Lynn from Labour. The United Government came to power with Labour support. Labour, forming the official opposition since 1926, were thus replaced by Reform.^[1]

The election

The 1928 election was held on Tuesday, 13 November in the Māori electorates, and on Wednesday, 14 November in the general electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 23rd session of Parliament. A total of 844,633 electors were registered on the European roll, of which 743,691 (88.05%) turned out to vote.^[2] All 80 electorates were contested.^[3] 47 and 29 electorates were in the North Island and South Island, respectively, plus the 4 Māori electorates.^[4]

Result by party

The table below shows the result of the 1928 election. The Bay of Islands electorate went to Harold Rushworth of the Country Party after a recount of the votes, but the election was declared void January 1929.^[5][6] Rushworth won the resulting by-election.^[6]

¹ Includes two who won as Independent Reform

²   United  previously contested as   Liberal  

Votes summary

Initial composition of the 23rd Parliament

The United Party was organised in the House of Representatives, prior to the dissolution of the 22nd Parliament.

The Auckland Star reported on 18 September 1928, that:^[7]

...the United Party were assembled yesterday in Wellington when Sir Joseph Ward accepted the leadership of the party. It had previously been decided, by unanimous resolution, that the party should go to the polls as "The United Party"...

The Evening Post newspaper reported on the same day that:^[8]

The Rt. Hon. Sir Joseph Ward took his seat as Leader of the United Party in the House of Representatives this afternoon, Mr G.W. Forbes, who has led the Nationalist Party up to the present, relinquishing his former place in favour of Sir Joseph. From now until the end of the session the Nationalist Party ceases to exist under that name.

Key

  Labour     Independent     United     Reform     Ratana     Country Party        Liberal-Labour

Notes

References

• Bassett, Michael (1982). Three Party Politics in New Zealand 1911–1931. Auckland: Historical Publications. ISBN 0-86870-006-1. 
• Mackie, Thomas T.; Rose, Richard (1991). The International Almanac of Electoral History, 3rd edition. Macmillan. 
• Skinner, W. A. G. (1929). The General Election, 1928. Government Printer. Retrieved 4 December 2013. 
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to New Zealand general election, 1928.

• Photos of Members of Parliament as elected in November 1928

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