New Zealand general election, 1890

1890 general election

← 1887 27 November (Māori) & 5 December (general) 1890 1893 →
← outgoing members members →
All 74 seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	80.4%
First party Second party   Leader John Ballance Harry Atkinson Party Liberal Conservatives Leader since 1889 1883 Leader's seat Wanganui Egmont Seats won 40 25 Popular vote 76,548 39,338 Percentage 56.1% 28.9%
Premier before election Harry Atkinson Conservatives Elected Premier John Ballance Liberal

Harry Atkinson
Conservatives

John Ballance
Liberal

The New Zealand general election of 1890 was one of New Zealand's most significant. It marked the beginning of party politics in New Zealand with the formation of the Liberal Government, which was to enact major welfare, labour and electoral reforms, including giving the vote to women.

It was also the first election in which there was no legal plural voting. Multi-member electorates were re-introduced in the four main centres and the 'country quota' (which gave more weight to rural votes) was increased to 28%.

Following the election and the resignation of the previous government headed by Harry Atkinson, John Ballance formed the first Liberal Party ministry, taking office on 24 January 1891. At this stage no formal party organisation existed, but the formation of the Liberal ministry signalled the end of the system by which governments were made up of a loose and unstable coalition of independent MPs and the beginning of the 'party system'.

In December 1887, the House of Representatives voted to reduce its membership from general electorates from 91 to 70. The 1890 electoral redistribution used the same 1886 census data used for the 1887 electoral redistribution. In addition, three-member electorates were introduced in the four main centres. This resulted in a major restructuring of electorates, with 12 new electorates created. Of those, four electorates were created for the first time: Te Aroha, Halswell, Dunedin Suburbs, and Palmerston. The remaining eight electorates had previously existed and were re-created through the 1890 electoral redistribution: City of Auckland, City of Christchurch, City of Dunedin, City of Wellington, Ellesmere, Franklin, Geraldine, and Westland.

...
Wikipedia