New Zealand general election, 1911

1911 general election

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7 to 19 December 1911

1914 →

← outgoing members

elected members →

All 80 seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives
41 seats were needed for a majority

Turnout

83.5%

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Joseph Ward	William Massey	Alfred Hindmarsh
Party	Liberal	Reform	Labour
Leader since	1906	1909	1910
Leader's seat	Awarua	Franklin	Wellington South
Last election	50 seats	Not yet founded	1 seat
Seats won	33	37	4
Seat change	17	37	3
Popular vote	163,401	161,773	35,869
Percentage	34.23%	33.37%	7.51%
Swing	14.4%	33.37%	2.62%

Prime Minister before election

Joseph Ward
Liberal

Prime Minister-designate

Joseph Ward
Liberal

The New Zealand general election of 1911 was held on Thursday, 7 and 14 December in the general electorates, and on Tuesday, 19 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 18th session of the New Zealand Parliament. A total number of 590,042 (83.5%) voters turned out to vote. In two seats (Eastern Maori and Gisborne) there was only one candidate (not one seat, as in Wilson ).

The result was that the Liberal Party, which had won a majority of seats (50 of 80) in Parliament, lost 17 seats and its majority, winning only 33. The Reform Party gained 9 to obtain a plurality (37) of seats. Liberal Prime Minister Joseph Ward was able to retain office, but in 1912, Reform Party founder William Massey formed a new government.

Joseph Ward hoped to remain in power with the support of independents and Labour Party members. Several candidates before the election made commitments to support the Ward Government in the event of a no-confidence motion in the House of Representatives. Ward considered delaying a new session of the house, perhaps for six months until June 1912, but following some tough talking from the Governor-General John Dickson-Poynder, he set the date as 15 February. To speed up the negotiating process, Ward promised to resign as Prime Minister after the Reform Party's no-confidence motion was defeated. The end result was even at 39 all, with the Speaker casting the deciding vote in favour of the Ward Government. Joseph Ward then resigned as Prime Minister on 28 March 1912. He was succeeded by Thomas Mackenzie and his new Cabinet was sworn in. The Mackenzie Government lasted only two months and was defeated by a no-confidence motion, 41 votes to 33 on 5 July 1912.

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