1935 New Zealand general election

The 1935 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 25th term. It resulted in the Labour Party's first electoral victory, with Michael Joseph Savage becoming the first Labour Prime Minister after defeating the governing coalition, consisting of the United Party and the Reform Party, in a landslide.

1935 New Zealand general election
26 (Māori) & 27 November (general) 1935
All 80 seats in the New Zealand Parliament
41 seats were needed for a majority
  First party Second party
 
Leader Michael Joseph Savage George Forbes
Party Labour United/Reform
Leader since 12 October 1933 18 September 1931
Leader's seat Auckland West Hurunui
Last election 24 seats, 34.27% 47 seats, 54.03%
Seats after 53 16
Seat change 29 31
Popular vote 389,911 285,422
Percentage 45.73% 33.48%
Swing 11.46% 20.55%
  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Harold Rushworth Eruera Tirikatene
Party Country Party Ratana
Leader since November 1928 3 August 1932
Leader's seat Bay of Islands Southern Maori
Last election 1 seat, 2.3% 0 seats, 1.00%
Seats after 2 2
Seat change 1 2
Popular vote 11,809 6,249
Percentage 1.67% 0.73%
Swing 0.67% 0.27%
Results of the election.
Prime Minister before election

George Forbes
United/Reform

 Subsequent Prime Minister

Michael Joseph Savage
Labour

The governing coalition lost 31 seats, which was attributed by many to their handling of the Great Depression: the year after the election, the United and Reform parties merged to form the modern National Party.

The election was originally scheduled to be held in 1934, in keeping with the country's three-year election cycle, but the governing coalition postponed the election by one year hoping that the economic conditions would improve by 1935.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.