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1951 New Zealand general election

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Field	Value
election_name	1951 New Zealand general election
country	New Zealand
flag_year	1951
type	parliamentary
ongoing	no
previous_election	1949 New Zealand general election
previous_year	1949
outgoing_members	29th New Zealand Parliament
next_election	1954 New Zealand general election
next_year	1954
elected_members	31st New Zealand Parliament
seats_for_election	All 80 seats in the New Zealand Parliament
41 seats were needed for a majority
election_date
elected_mps	[elected members](30th-new-zealand-parliament)
turnout	1,069,791 (89.1%)
image1	[[File:Sidney George Holland (1953) 2.png	200x200px]]
leader1	Sidney Holland
leader_since1	[26 November 1940](1940-new-zealand-national-party-leadership-election)
party1	New Zealand National Party
leaders_seat1	Fendalton
last_election1	46 seats, 51.9%
seats1	50
seat_change1	4
popular_vote1	577,630
percentage1	54.0%
swing1	2.1%
image2	[[File:Walter Nash (ca 1940s).jpg	200x200px]]
leader2	Walter Nash
leader_since2	[17 January 1951](1951-new-zealand-labour-party-leadership-election)
party2	New Zealand Labour Party
leaders_seat2	Hutt
last_election2	34 seats, 47.2%
seats2	30
seat_change2	4
popular_vote2	490,143
percentage2	45.8%
swing2	1.4%
map_image	1951 New Zealand general election - Results.svg
map_size	400px
map_caption	Results of the election.
title	Prime Minister
posttitle	Subsequent Prime Minister
before_election	Sidney Holland
after_election	Sidney Holland
before_party	New Zealand National Party
after_party	New Zealand National Party

41 seats were needed for a majority

The 1951 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 30th term. The First National Government was re-elected, with the National Party increasing its parliamentary majority over the opposition Labour Party. This was the last time until the that a party was elected to majority government of New Zealand by receiving a majority of the vote.

Background

The National Party had formed its first administration after the 1949 elections, in which it had ended four terms of government by the Labour Party. The National government, with Sidney Holland as Prime Minister, had undertaken a number of economic and constitutional reforms, although it had not seriously modified the new social welfare system which Labour had introduced. Labour's leader, Peter Fraser, had died in December 1950 after a long period of poor health, and had been replaced in January 1951 by Walter Nash. Nash had been Minister of Finance for the duration of the first Labour government.

The most significant issue in the 1951 elections was the growing industrial unrest of the time, particularly the ongoing dockworkers dispute. Holland condemned the strikers, calling the situation "industrial anarchy". The Labour Party, under Nash, attempted to take a moderate position in the dispute, but ended up displeasing both sides. Holland, seeking a mandate to respond strongly to the strike, called a snap election. Another issue was high inflation, which frustrated voters and without the distraction of the strike, might have threatened Holland's government at the scheduled election for 1952.

MPs retiring in 1951

Two MPs retired at the election, one each from Labour and National.

Party	Name	Electorate
New Zealand Labour Party}}"		Labour	Bill Parry
New Zealand National Party}}"		National	Frederick Doidge

The election

The date for the main 1951 elections was 1 September, and for the first time, elections to the four Maori seats were held on the same day. The 1951 elections were also the first under the new regulations which required elections to be held on a Saturday. 1,205,762 people were registered to vote, and turnout was 89.1%. The number of seats being contested was 80, a number which had been fixed since 1902.

Results

Party standings

The 1951 election saw the governing National Party re-elected with a twenty-seat margin, a substantial improvement on the twelve-seat margin it previously held. National won fifty seats compared with the Labour Party's thirty. The popular vote was closer, however, with National winning 54% to Labour's 46%. No seats were won by minor party candidates or by independents. No party then captured a majority of the vote until the 2020 election, when Labour won 50.01%.

[[File:1951 nz parliament.svg	center]]	Election results	Party	Candidates	Total votes	Percentage
	National	80	577,630	54.00	50	+4
	Labour	80	490,143	45.80	30	−4
	Communist	4	528	0.05	0	±0
	Others	7	1,490	0.14	0	±0
Total	171	1,069,791		80

Votes summary

Key

access-date= 19 November 2012
-
-
Hauraki
-
incumbent-party = New Zealand Labour Party
second-party = New Zealand National Party
incumbent-party= New Zealand Labour Party
second-party= New Zealand National Party
incumbent-party = New Zealand Labour Party
second-party = New Zealand National Party
incumbent-party= New Zealand National Party
second-party= New Zealand Labour Party
incumbent-party= New Zealand National Party
second-party= New Zealand Labour Party
-
-
}

Table footnotes:

References

{{DNZB. Gustafson. Barry. 5h30. Holland, Sidney George. 30 October 2012. Barry Gustafson

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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