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1881 New Zealand general election

General election

Field	Value
election_name	1881 general election
country	New Zealand
type	parliamentary
ongoing	no
previous_election	1879 New Zealand general election
previous_year	1879
outgoing_members	7th New Zealand Parliament
next_election	1884 New Zealand general election
next_year	1884
elected_members	9th New Zealand Parliament
seats_for_election	All 95 seats in the House of Representatives
election_date	8 (Māori) & 9 (general) December 1881
elected_mps	[elected members](8th-new-zealand-parliament)
turnout	66.5%
image1	[[File:Sir John Hall, ca 1880.jpg	150px]]
leader1	John Hall
leader_since1	1879
color1	B8BFFE
party1	Conservative Independents
leaders_seat1	Selwyn
seats1	45
seat_change1	0
popular_vote1	N/A
percentage1	N/A
swing1	N/A
image2	[[File:George Grey, c. 1875.jpg	140px]]
leader2	George Grey
leader_since2	1877
color2	FBEC5D
party2	Greyite Independents
leaders_seat2	Auckland East
seats2	39
seat_change2	2
popular_vote2	N/A
percentage2	N/A
swing2	N/A
title	Premier
posttitle	Subsequent Premier
before_election	John Hall
after_election	John Hall
before_party	Independent politician
after_party	Independent politician

The 1881 New Zealand general election was held on 8 and 9 December in the Māori and European electorates, respectively, to elect 95 MPs to the 8th session of the New Zealand Parliament.

1881 was the first time a general election was held under universal male suffrage; all MPs were elected in single-member electorates; and the country quota was introduced, allowing rural electorates to have 25% fewer voters than urban electorates. Beginning with the 1881 election, all elections in European electorates were to be held on the same day, a measure not introduced for Māori electorates until 1951.

1881 electoral redistribution

The previous electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1875 for the 1875–1876 election. In the six years since, New Zealand's European population had increased by 65%. In the 1881 electoral redistribution, the House of Representatives increased the number of European representatives to 91 (up from 84 since the 1875–76 election). The number of Māori electorates was held at four. The House further decided that electorates should not have more than one representative, which led to 35 new electorates being formed: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and . In addition, two electorates that had previously been abolished were recreated: and .

These changes necessitated a major disruption to existing boundaries. Only six electorates remained unchanged: , , , , , and .

The electoral distribution was the first that formally acknowledged the existence of a country quota, where country electorates contained 25% fewer voters than town electorates.

The election

The 1881 election was held on Thursday, 8 December, in the Māori electorates and on Friday, 9 December, in the European electorates to elect a total of 95 MPs to the 8th Parliament. A total number of 120,972 (66.5%) voters turned out to vote. In 11 seats there was only one candidate. 36 and 55 seats were in the North Island and South Island, respectively, plus the 4 Māori electorates.

The incumbent government led by John Hall retained office having support from 45 members with 39 "Greyites" (supporters of George Grey) and 11 Independents not affiliated with either faction.

Results

The following table shows the successful candidate for each electorate.

Electorate	Affiliation	MP's term
	Greyite	Fourth
	Greyite	Second
	Greyite	First
Auckland East	Greyite	Fourth
Auckland North	Independent	First
Auckland West	Independent	First
	Conservative	Fifth
	Greyite	Second
	Conservative	Second
	Independent	First
	Independent Liberal	First
	Greyite	Second
	Conservative	First
	Conservative	First
Christchurch South	Greyite	First
	Conservative	Fourth
	Conservative	First
	Greyite	First
Dunedin Central	Greyite	First
Dunedin East	Independent	First
Dunedin South	Independent	First
Dunedin West	Conservative	Fourth
	Greyite	Fourth
	Greyite	Second
	Greyite	Third
	Conservative	Sixth
	Conservative	First
Franklin North	Greyite	Second
Franklin South	Greyite	Third
	Conservative	First
	Independent	First
	Conservative	First
	Conservative	Third
	Conservative	First
	Conservative	First
	Conservative	Fifth
	Conservative	Second
	Conservative	Second
	Greyite	Second
	Conservative	First
	Greyite	Second
	Conservative	First
	Conservative	Second
	Conservative	Fourth
	Independent	Sixth
	Conservative	First
	Greyite	First
	Greyite	First
	Conservative	Third
	Greyite	Third
	Greyite	First
	Greyite	Second
	Conservative	Fifth
	Conservative	Fourth
	Greyite	Third
	Greyite	Third
	Greyite	Second
	Conservative	First
	Greyite	Eighth
Rangitikei	Independent Liberal	First
	Greyite	Third
	Greyite	Second
	Conservative	Fifth
	Greyite	Third
	Conservative	First
	Greyite	First
	Conservative	Second
	Conservative	Second
	Conservative	Second
	Conservative	First
	Independent	Fourth
	Conservative	Second
	Greyite	Third
	Greyite	Fifth
	Conservative	Second
	Conservative	Second
	Conservative	Second
	Greyite	Third
	Conservative	Second
	Independent Liberal	First
Wairarapa North	Conservative	Third
Wairarapa South	Conservative	First
	Greyite	First
	Greyite	First
	Conservative	Second
	Conservative	Fifth
	Conservative	Second
	Conservative	First
	Greyite	First
Wanganui	Conservative	Second
	Greyite	Second
X-01Eastern Maori	Conservative	Third
X-02Northern Maori	Greyite	Second
X-03Southern Maori	Greyite	Fourth
X-04Western Maori	Greyite	Second

Notes

References

{{cite book |access-date = 24 October 2015

References

"The Origins of the Māori Seats". New Zealand Parliament.
"General elections 1853-2005 - dates & turnout". Elections New Zealand.
(12 December 1881). "New Elections". Thames Star.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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