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 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 ...

to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 16th 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 ...

. A total number of 412,702 voters turned out, with 396,657 (83.25% of the electoral roll) voting in the European electorates.

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. 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 , , and were abolished and replaced with the following single-member seats: * * * * * * * * * * * * Nine of these twelve electorates had existed before. Wellington Central, Wellington North, and Dunedin North were established for the first time.

Historic context

In 1905 a progressive faction within the Liberal Party started to form in opposition to Liberal leader

Richard Seddon Richard John Seddon (22 June 1845 – 10 June 1906) was a New Zealand politician who served as the List of prime ministers of New Zealand, 15th Prime Minister of New Zealand, premier (prime minister) of New Zealand from 1893 until his death. ...

'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 George Laurenson (5 July 1857 – 19 November 1913) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for in the South Island. Early life The ''Lyttelton Times'' parliamentary correspondent described Laurenson as: "a Scotchman by birth, a Shetlander by ...

Francis Fisher Francis Marion Bates Fisher (22 December 1877 – 24 July 1960) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament from Wellington. He was known as Rainbow Fisher for his frequent changes of political allegiance. He was a veteran of the Boer War and an in ...

, Harry Bedford and

Tommy Taylor Thomas Taylor (29 January 1932 – 6 February 1958) was an English footballer, who was known for his aerial ability. He was one of the eight Manchester United players who died in the Munich air disaster. Career Taylor was born in Smithies, ...

) that stood in the election only Laurenson and Fisher were returned. The freshly created

Independent Political Labour League The Independent Political Labour League (IPLL) was a small New Zealand political party. It was the second organised political party to win a seat in the New Zealand House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and was a forerunner of the m ...

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 A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

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. The Rev Frank Isitt was the Prohibition candidate for several South Island electorates, and came second in two.

Results

Party totals

The following table gives party strengths and vote distribution.

Votes summary

Electorate results

The following are the results of the 1905 general election: Key , - , colspan=10 style="background-color:#FFDEAD" , General electorates , - , - , colspan=10 style="background-color:#FFDEAD" ,

, -

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:1905 New Zealand general election