The 1935 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape 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 ...
's
25th term. It resulted in the
Labour Party's first electoral victory, with
Michael Joseph Savage
Michael Joseph Savage (23 March 1872 – 27 March 1940) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of New Zealand, heading the First Labour Government from 1935 until his death in 1940.
Savage was born in the Colon ...
becoming the first Labour
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
after defeating the
governing coalition
A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...
, consisting of the
United Party and the
Reform Party, in a landslide.
The governing coalition lost 31 seats, which was attributed by many to their handling of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
: the year after the election, the United and Reform parties merged to form the modern
National Party.
The election was originally scheduled to be held in 1934, in keeping with the country's three-year election cycle, but the governing coalition postponed the election by one year hoping that the
economic conditions would improve by 1935.
Background
Since 1931, New Zealand had been governed by a coalition of the
United Party and the
Reform Party, the
United–Reform Coalition
The United–Reform Coalition, also known as the National Political Federation from 1935, was a coalition between two of the three major parties of New Zealand, the United and Reform parties, from 1931 to 1936. The Coalition formed the Governme ...
. United and Reform had traditionally been enemies – United was a revival of the old
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
, a progressive party with a strong urban base, while Reform was a conservative party with a strong rural base. When the
1928 elections left United and Reform with an equal number of seats, United managed to obtain support from the growing
Labour Party, but in 1931, the worsening depression prompted a dispute over economic policy, and Labour withdrew its backing. Reform then agreed to go into coalition with United, fearing that an election would lead to significant gains for the "
socialistic" Labour. The coalition held on to power in the
1931 elections, but the ongoing economic troubles made the government deeply unpopular, and by the time of the 1935 elections, Labour's support was soaring.
Campaign
''
The Dominion'', a Wellington newspaper, printed anti-Labour advertisements and editorials. On Sunday 24 November, shortly before the election, an address by
Colin Scrimgeour
The Reverend Colin Graham Scrimgeour (30 January 1903 – 16 January 1987), also known as Uncle Scrim or Scrim, was a New Zealand Methodist Minister and broadcaster.
Biography Life and ministry
Born in Wairoa, Hawke's Bay, he entered the Metho ...
("Uncle Scrim") on the ''Friendly Road'' radio station, which was expected to urge listeners to vote Labour, was jammed by the
Post Office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letters and parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post offices may offer additional serv ...
.
The election
The number of electorates being contested was 80, a number which had been fixed since the 1902 Electoral Redistribution.
Four of those were
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 ...
, and those elections were held on 26 November. 19 candidates contested the four available positions, and in three out of four cases, the incumbents were returned.
The election in the European electorates was held on the following day, a Wednesday. A total of 246 candidates contested the 76 European electorates, between two and six per electorate ( had six candidates, and there was a contest in all electorates), i.e. an average of 3.2 candidates per electorate. 919,798 people were registered to vote in European electorates (enrolment data for Māori electorates are only available since the ), and there was a
turnout of 90.75%. This turnout was considerably higher than the turnout in the previous election (84.26%) and the highest turnout so far, but still about average for the next decades.
Elsie Andrews (1888–1948) was one of only three women who stood for election in this year.
Results
Summary
The 1935 election saw a massive win for the opposition
Labour Party, which won fifty-three seats, and formed the
First Labour Government. The governing coalition won only nineteen, and three ministers were defeated (in Hamilton, Tauranga and Waitaki). This difference was not so great in the popular vote, however, with Labour winning 45.7% to the coalition's 33.5%. Labour was more fortunate than its British namesake in not attaining office before the depression (thanks to Seddon's lengthy reign) "and so could hold the conservative coalition responsible if natural laws of economics behaved unnaturally".
Apart from Labour and the coalition, the only two groups to win places in Parliament were the
Country Party and the
Ratana movement, both of which won two seats.
Four independents were elected,
Harry Atmore
Harry Atmore (14 December 1870 – 20 August 1946) was a New Zealand Independent Member of Parliament for Nelson in the South Island.
Harry Atmore held the Nelson seat as an Independent for a total of thirty years from 1911 to 1914 and th ...
,
David McDougall
David (Davie) McDougall (14 July 1858 – 7 November 1943) was a United Party and an Independent Member of Parliament for Mataura, in the South Island of New Zealand.
Biography Early life
Born in Glasgow, Scotland, McDougall came to New Zeal ...
,
Charles Wilkinson Charles Wilkinson may refer to:
* Charles Wilkinson (MP) (1725–1782), English Member of Parliament
*Charles Edmund Wilkinson (1807–1870), acting Governor of British Ceylon
* Charles Wilkinson (cricketer) (1813–1889), English cricketer and cle ...
and
Robert Wright. The independents were tactically supported by one of the major parties who did not stand a candidate against them, and they generally voted with that party; Wilkinson and Wright supported the coalition while Atmore and McDougall supported Labour. Labour also did not stand candidates against the two Country Party members.
Many commentators blamed the coalition's failure to win seats on
vote splitting
Vote splitting is an electoral effect in which the distribution of votes among multiple similar candidates reduces the chance of winning for any of the similar candidates, and increases the chance of winning for a dissimilar candidate.
Vote spl ...
by the
Democrat Party, an "anti-socialist" group founded by a former organiser for the governing coalition,
Albert Davy
Albert Ernest Davy (17 August 1886 – 13 June 1959) was a New Zealand political organiser and campaign manager; and at the height of his career, was regarded as one of the best in the country.
He was a strong opponent of socialism, and spent m ...
, and headed by
Thomas Hislop, the
Mayor of Wellington
The Mayor of Wellington is the head of the municipal government of the City of Wellington. The mayor presides over the Wellington City Council. The mayor is directly elected using the Single Transferable Vote method of proportional representati ...
. Perhaps as many as eight seats were an unexpected bonus to Labour because of the three-way split. The Democrats won 7.8% of the vote, but no seats.
Two future
National
National may refer to:
Common uses
* Nation or country
** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen
Places in the United States
* National, Maryland, c ...
MPs stood unsuccessfully:
Frederick Doidge
Sir Frederick Widdowson Doidge (26 February 1884 – 26 May 1954) was a journalist in New Zealand and England, then a National Party member in the New Zealand House of Representatives.
Biography Early life and career
Doidge was born in Coo ...
stood as an Independent for and came second, and
Matthew Oram
Sir Matthew Henry Oram (2 June 1885 – 22 January 1969) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party. He was the 13th Speaker of the House of Representatives, from 1950 to 1957.
Early life
Oram was born in 1885 at Christchurch. His mo ...
stood for the Democrats in and came fourth.
An analysis of men and women on the rolls against the votes recorded showed that in 1935 90.75% of those on the European rolls voted; men 92.02% and women 89.46%. In the the figures were 92.85% with men 93.43% and women 92.27%. As the Māori electorates did not have electoral rolls they could not be included.
Party totals
Votes summary
Electorate results
The following table shows the detailed results:
Key
, -
, colspan=8 style="background-color:#FFDEAD" , General electorates
, -
, -
,
Hauraki
Hauraki is a suburb located on the southern North Shore of Auckland, the largest metropolitan city in New Zealand. It is under the local governance of the Auckland Council.
History
The traditional name for the western coastline in Hauraki wa ...
, style="background-color:;" ,
, style="text-align:center;" ,
Walter William Massey
, style="background-color:;" ,
, style="text-align:center;background-color:;" ,
Charles Robert Petrie
, style="text-align:right;" , 544
, style="background-color:;" ,
, style="text-align:center;" , Walter William Massey
, -
, -
, colspan=8 style="background-color:#FFDEAD" ,
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 ...
, -
Table footnotes:
Post-election events
A number of
local by-elections were required due to the resignations of incumbent local body politicians following the general election:
* In February 1936
Dan Sullivan Dan, Danny, or Daniel Sullivan may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* Daniel J. Sullivan (born 1940), American film and theater director
* Daniel G. Sullivan, American screenwriter
* Dan Sullivan (musician), indie rock musician
* Dan Panic, Amer ...
resigned as
Mayor of Christchurch
The Mayor of Christchurch is the head of the municipal government of Christchurch, New Zealand, and presides over the Christchurch City Council. The mayor is directly elected using a First Past the Post electoral system. The current mayor, Ph ...
owing to a heavy workload after becoming a cabinet minister following Labour's victory. This sparked a
two by-elections, one for the mayoralty and another for three vacancies on the city council. Sullivan was replaced by
John Beanland
John Walton Beanland (3 November 1866 – 7 December 1943) was a building contractor and Mayor of Christchurch from 1936 to 1938.
Early life
Beanland was born in Durham Lead near Ballarat, Victoria in 1866. His parents were John Griffith Beanla ...
.
Among the successful city council candidates was
Robert Macfarlane who had contested
Christchurch North in 1935.
* Likewise
Peter Fraser
Peter Fraser (; 28 August 1884 – 12 December 1950) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 24th prime minister of New Zealand from 27 March 1940 until 13 December 1949. Considered a major figure in the history of the New Zealand La ...
resigned his seat on the
Wellington City Council
Wellington City Council is a territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the country's capital city Wellington, and ''de facto'' second-largest city (if the commonly considered parts of Wellington, the Upper Hutt, Porirua, Lower Hutt and ...
in order to focus on his new ministerial duties. A by-election was avoided however when Andrew Parlane, the highest polling unsuccessful candidate from the previous election, was the only nominated candidate.
* Later in the parliamentary term
Fred Jones resigned his membership of the
Dunedin City Council
The Dunedin City Council ( mi, Kaunihera ā-Rohe o Ōtepoti) is the local government authority for Dunedin in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Dunedin. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Dunedin is Jules ...
due to his ministerial obligations. An appointment was made instead of holding a by-election with Ralph Harrison succeeding Jones.
Notes
References
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{{DEFAULTSORT:1935 New Zealand general election