1890 New Zealand general election
The 1890 New Zealand general election 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.
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All 74 seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 80.4% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Results of the election. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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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'.