The 1871 New Zealand general election was held between 14 January and 23 February to elect 78 MPs across 72 electorates to the
fifth session of the
New Zealand Parliament
The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand ( King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by h ...
. 41,527 electors were registered.
Background
1871 was the first general election to include the four
Māori electorates
In New Zealand politics, Māori electorates, colloquially known as the Māori seats, are a special category of electorate that give reserved positions to representatives of Māori in the New Zealand Parliament. Every area in New Zealand is ...
,
with elections held on 1 and 15 February.
The first Māori
Members of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
had been elected in
1868
Events
January–March
* January 2 – British Expedition to Abyssinia: Robert Napier leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries.
* January 3 – The 15-year-old Mutsuhito, Emperor Meiji of Jap ...
, but in 1871 three retired and one (
Western Maori
Western Maori was one of New Zealand's four original parliamentary Māori electorates established in 1868, along with Northern Maori, Eastern Maori and Southern Maori. In 1996, with the introduction of MMP, the Maori electorates were updated, ...
) was defeated. So in 1871 four new Māori MPs were elected.
In 1866 the
secret ballot
The secret ballot, also known as the Australian ballot, is a voting method in which a voter's identity in an election or a referendum is anonymous. This forestalls attempts to influence the voter by intimidation, blackmailing, and potential vote ...
was introduced for general (European) elections. The 1871 general election was the first one at which it was used. The secret ballot not used in Māori electorates until 1938, thus Māori voters continued to inform a polling officer orally of their chosen candidate.
The date of election is defined here as the day on which the poll took place, or if there was no contest, the day of nomination. The earliest election day was 14 January 1871.
The earliest date in the general electorate results table, 13 January 1871, thus represents
William Rolleston
William Rolleston (19 September 1831 – 8 February 1903) was a New Zealand politician, public administrator, educationalist and Canterbury provincial superintendent.
Early life
Rolleston was born on 19 September 1831 at Maltby, Yorkshire as th ...
being declared elected unopposed in the
Avon electorate on nomination day.
The last election was held on 23 February 1871 in the
Franklin electorate.
68 European electorates and 4 Māori electorates were defined by the Representation Act 1870. Six of the general electorates had two representatives, the rest were single member electorates. Hence, 78 MPs were elected.
Electorates that were first formed for the 1871 elections were , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and . 41,527 electors were registered.
Results
a Unseated on petition.
Notes
References
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Zealand General Election, 1871