The 1922 New Zealand general election was held on Monday, 6 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 ...

, and on Tuesday, 7 December in the general electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 21st 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 hi ...

. A total number of 700,111 (87.7%) voters turned out to vote. In one seat (

Bay of Plenty The Bay of Plenty ( mi, Te Moana-a-Toi) is a region of New Zealand, situated around a bight of the same name in the northern coast of the North Island. The bight stretches 260 km from the Coromandel Peninsula in the west to Cape Runaw ...

) there was only one candidate. 1922 was the year residents of the

Chatham Islands The Chatham Islands ( ) (Moriori: ''Rēkohu'', 'Misty Sun'; mi, Wharekauri) are an archipelago in the Pacific Ocean about east of New Zealand's South Island. They are administered as part of New Zealand. The archipelago consists of about t ...

were enfranchised for the first time (included in Lyttelton and Western Māori electorates).

Result

William Massey William Ferguson Massey (26 March 1856 – 10 May 1925), commonly known as Bill Massey, was a politician who served as the 19th prime minister of New Zealand from May 1912 to May 1925. He was the founding leader of the Reform Party, New Ze ...

formed a government, but with the loss in support for the Reform Party he had to negotiate for support with Independents, and with two

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 ...

members. Liberal was in decline and disorganised. Just before the 1925 election (held on 4 November), two Liberal MPs from Christchurch who had supported Massey (along with Independents Harry Atmore and

Allen Bell Lt. Colonel Allan (Allen) Bell (14 February 1870 – 15 October 1936) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for the Bay of Islands in Northland. Early life Bell was born at Southbridge, New Zealand on 14 February 1870. He was the son of A ...

) were appointed to the Legislative Council. They were Leonard Isitt and

George Witty George Witty (1856 – 21 November 1941) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for Riccarton, in the South Island. Early life He was born in North Ferriby, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England and came to New Zealand in 1875 with two shil ...

who were both appointed to the Legislative Council by

Gordon Coates Joseph Gordon Coates (3 February 1878 – 27 May 1943) served as the 21st prime minister of New Zealand from 1925 to 1928. He was the third successive Reform prime minister since 1912. Born in rural Northland, Coates grew up on a cattle run a ...

on 28 October 1925. Both were Liberals and their retirement removed "a source of some bitterness from the Party’s ranks (Coates rewarded them with seats in the Legislative Council the day after the election)".

was Reform, and both of their seats went to

Reform Reform ( lat, reformo) means the improvement or amendment of what is wrong, corrupt, unsatisfactory, etc. The use of the word in this way emerges in the late 18th century and is believed to originate from Christopher Wyvill's Association movement ...

candidates in 1925.

Party Totals

Party totals

''*Note: For numbers of candidates see Wilson (1985) p. 295; for numbers of votes and percentage see Wilson (1985) p. 289. Electorate results given below include 38 Reform and 21 Liberal members. The figures given in the table agree with Mackie and Rose, as well as the article on

New Zealand elections New Zealand is a representative democracy in which members of the unicameral New Zealand Parliament gain their seats through elections. General elections are usually held every three years; they may be held at an earlier date (a " snap" electi ...

.''

Votes summary

Electorate results

The results of the 1922 election were as follows: Key , - , colspan=8 style="background-color:#FFDEAD" , General electorates , - , - , colspan=8 style="background-color:#FFDEAD" ,

, -

Summary of changes

A boundary redistribution resulted in the abolition of one seat: *, held by John Edie At the same time, one new seat was created: *

Notes

References

* * * * * * * {{New Zealand elections