The 1990 New Zealand general election was held on 27 October to determine the composition of the
43rd New Zealand parliament. The governing
Labour Party was defeated in a
landslide
Landslides, also known as landslips, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslides ...
, ending its
two terms in office. The
National Party, led by
Jim Bolger
James Brendan Bolger ( ; born 31 May 1935) is a New Zealand retired politician of the National Party who was the 35th prime minister of New Zealand, serving from 1990 to 1997.
Bolger was born in Ōpunake, Taranaki, to Irish immigrants. Bef ...
, won the largest majority government in New Zealand history.
This election was the first time since
1975
It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe.
Events
January
* January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
that National had won the popular vote.
Background
The
Labour Party had taken office after defeating the
National Party under
Robert Muldoon
Sir Robert David Muldoon (; 25 September 19215 August 1992) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 31st prime minister of New Zealand, from 1975 to 1984, while leader of the National Party. Departing from National Party convention, Mu ...
in the
1984 election.
David Lange
David Russell Lange ( ; 4 August 1942 – 13 August 2005) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 32nd prime minister of New Zealand from 1984 to 1989. A member of the New Zealand Labour Party, Lange was also the Minister of Education ...
became
prime minister
A prime minister 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. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
and
Roger Douglas became
Minister of Finance
A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position .
A ministry of finance's portfolio ...
. The economic program outlined by Douglas was deeply unpopular with Labour's traditional supporters, however –
deregulation
Deregulation is the process of removing or reducing state regulations, typically in the economic sphere. It is the repeal of governmental regulation of the economy. It became common in advanced industrial economies in the 1970s and 1980s, as a ...
,
privatisation
Privatization (rendered privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation w ...
, and
free trade
Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold Economic liberalism, economically liberal positions, while economic nationalist politica ...
, all opposed by the party's more left-wing members, were a key part of the
Rogernomics platform. This internal dissent was off-set somewhat by new social legislation and a strong stance against
nuclear weapon
A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...
s.
Labour was re-elected in the
1987 election with its parliamentary majority untouched, but the internal disputes continued. Eventually Lange forced Douglas to resign in December 1988, but continued destabilisation of his leadership by Douglas had weakened Lange's position such that he resigned eight months later. He was replaced as prime minister by
Geoffrey Palmer Geoffrey Palmer may refer to:
Politicians
*Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 1st Baronet (1598–1670), English lawyer and politician
*Sir Geoffrey Palmer, 3rd Baronet (1655–1732), English politician, member of parliament (MP) for Leicestershire
*Geoffrey Pal ...
, but Palmer failed to revive Labour's falling popularity. Several months before the election, Palmer was replaced by
Mike Moore Michael Moore is an American filmmaker and author.
Michael Moore may also refer to:
Academia
* Michael G. Moore (fl. 1970s–2020s), professor of education
* Michael S. Moore (academic) (fl. 1960s–2020s), American law professor
* Michael Mo ...
. The National Party was performing strongly – its leader, Jim Bolger, spoke repeatedly of "the Decent Society", saying that the reforms were doing significant damage to the social fabric of the country. The government was also being challenged by the
NewLabour Party, founded by renegade MP
Jim Anderton
James Patrick Anderton (born Byrne; 21 January 1938 – 7 January 2018) was a New Zealand politician who led a succession of Left-wing politics, left-wing parties after leaving the New Zealand Labour Party, Labour Party in 1989.
Anderton's pol ...
.
MPs retiring in 1990
Five National MPs and eleven Labour MPs intended to retire at the end of the 42nd Parliament.
The election
The date for the 1990 election was 27 October. 2,202,157 people were registered to vote, and 85.2% of these people turned out. The number of seats being contested was 97 – this was the same as in the previous election, which had the largest number of seats for any Parliament until that point.
Summary of results
The 1990 election eventually saw a victory for the
National Party, then in opposition. National won nearly half (48%) of the vote and 67 (69%) of the seats, becoming the
fourth National government. This was the highest number of seats the party had ever won, either in absolute terms or as a percentage, and by extension the largest majority government in New Zealand history. Four new (and young) National MPs: (
Bill English,
Tony Ryall,
Roger Sowry and
Nick Smith) were called the "brat pack" by Sir
Robert Muldoon
Sir Robert David Muldoon (; 25 September 19215 August 1992) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 31st prime minister of New Zealand, from 1975 to 1984, while leader of the National Party. Departing from National Party convention, Mu ...
(himself one of the "Young Turks" of
1960
It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism.
Events January
* Janu ...
).
The new
Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as environmentalism and social justice.
Green party platforms typically embrace Social democracy, social democratic economic policies and fo ...
gained the third-highest number of votes, but won no seats. The
NewLabour Party won a single seat, due to
Jim Anderton
James Patrick Anderton (born Byrne; 21 January 1938 – 7 January 2018) was a New Zealand politician who led a succession of Left-wing politics, left-wing parties after leaving the New Zealand Labour Party, Labour Party in 1989.
Anderton's pol ...
retaining the
Sydenham Sydenham may refer to:
Places Australia
* Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney
** Sydenham railway station, Sydney
* Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne
** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne un ...
seat he originally won as a Labour candidate.
The governing Labour Party, by contrast, suffered its worst-ever defeat since it first won power in the
1935 election, winning only 29 (30%) of the seats and 35% of the vote (its lowest percentage since 1931), and losing 27 seats. Initially it appeared that twelve ministers and the Speaker had lost their seats, but
Fran Wilde scraped in on special votes. Many of Labour's talented "class of 84" were swept out, though five of them,
Annette King
Dame Annette Faye King (née Robinson, born 13 September 1947) is a former New Zealand politician. She served as Deputy Leader of the New Zealand Labour Party and Deputy Leader of the Opposition from 2008 to 2011, and from 2014 until 1 March 2 ...
,
Jim Sutton,
Trevor Mallard,
Richard Northey and
Judy Keall, returned in 1993.
The result was primarily due to intense anger at Labour and its policies (shown by it losing 12% of the vote) rather than love of National (which only increased its vote by 4%).
Detailed results
Party totals
Votes summary
Electorate results
The tables below shows the results of the 1990 general election:
Key
, -
, colspan=8 style="background-color:#FFDEAD" , General electorates
, -
, -
, colspan=8 style="background-color:#FFDEAD" ,
Māori electorates
In Politics of New Zealand, New Zealand politics, Māori electorates, colloquially known as the Māori seats (), are a special category of New Zealand electorates, electorate that give Reserved political positions, reserved positions to repre ...
, -
Table footnotes:
Summary of seat changes
*Electoral redistributions:
**There was no redistribution of electoral boundaries between the 1987 and 1990 elections.
*Seats captured:
**By National: ''Birkenhead'', ''East Cape'', ''Eden'', ''Gisborne'', ''Glenfield'', ''Hamilton East'', ''Hamilton West'', ''Hastings'', ''Hawkes Bay'', ''Heretaunga'', ''Horowhenua'', ''Kapiti'', ''Lyttelton'', ''Manawatu'', ''Miramar'', ''New Plymouth'', ''Onehunga'', ''Otara'', ''Roskill'', ''Tasman'', ''Te Atatu'', ''Titirangi'', ''Tongariro'', ''Waitaki'', ''Wanganui'', ''West Coast'' and ''Western Hutt'' (27 seats) were captured from Labour. Seventeen of these (Gisborne, Hamilton East, Hamilton West, Hastings, Horowhenua, Lyttelton, Manawatu, Miramar, New Plymouth, Onehunga, Otara, Roskill, Te Atatu, Titirangi, Tongariro, Wanganui & the West Coast) were ''one-term'' gains, recaptured by Labour in 1993.
*Seats transferred from departing MPs to new MPs:
**The seats of ''North Shore'', ''Papakura'', ''Tarawera'', ''Waitotara'' and ''Wallace'', all held by departing National MPs, were won by new National candidates.
**The seats of ''Christchurch Central'', ''Dunedin North'', ''Eastern Hutt'', ''Manurewa'', ''Nelson'', ''Palmerston North'' and ''Panmure'', all held by departing Labour MPs, were won by new Labour candidates.
Post-election events
A number of
local by-elections were required due to the resignation of incumbent local body politicians following their election to Parliament:
* A
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections.
A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
to the
Auckland City Council
Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1989 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elec ...
was caused after Maungakiekie Ward councillor
Grahame Thorne resigned his seat after he was elected MP for , necessitating a by-election to fill the council vacancy. The by-election was won by Ken Graham with two candidates from the general election,
Richard Northey (Labour candidate for ) and Laurie Ross (Green candidate for Onehunga), also contesting.
* A by-election to the
Auckland Regional Council
The Auckland Regional Council (ARC) was the regional council (one of the former local government authorities) of the Auckland Region. Its predecessor the Auckland Regional Authority (ARA) was formed in 1963 and became the ARC in 1989. The ARC ...
was caused after Panmure Ward councillor
Judith Tizard
Judith Ngaire Tizard (born 3 January 1956) is a former New Zealand politician, and a member of the New Zealand Labour Party, Labour Party.
Early life and career
Tizard was born at Auckland's St Helen's maternity hospital in Pitt Street in 1956. ...
resigned her seat after she was elected MP for , necessitating a by-election to fill the council vacancy. The by-election was won by
Bruce Jesson with a retiring candidate at the general election,
Bob Tizard (previously Labour MP for Panmure) also contesting.
* A
by-election
A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections.
A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...
to the
Wellington City Council
Wellington City Council is a Territorial authorities of New Zealand, territorial authority in New Zealand, governing the city of Wellington, the country's capital city and List of cities in New Zealand#City councils, third-largest city by popul ...
was caused after Southern Ward councillor
John Blincoe resigned his seat after he was elected MP for , necessitating a by-election to fill the council vacancy. The by-election was won by Margaret Bonner with two candidates from the general election, Ann Nolan (National candidate for ) and Jeff Montgomery (NewLabour candidate for ), also contesting.
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
{{New Zealand elections
October 1990 in Oceania