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All 80 seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives 41 seats were needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 79.8% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Results of the election. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1908 New Zealand general election was held on Tuesday, 17 and 24 November and 1 December in the general electorates, and on Wednesday, 2 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 17th session of the New Zealand Parliament. A total number of 537,003 (79.8%) voters turned out to vote. [1]
The Second Ballot Act 1908 provided for second or runoff ballots between the top two candidates where the top candidate did not get an absolute majority. The second ballot was held 7 days after the first ballot except in 10 large rural seats, where 14 days were allowed. In 1908, 22 second ballots were held on 24 November and 1 (Bay of Plenty) on 1 December. At the 1911 election, all 30 second ballots were held 7 days later. [2] Two 1909 by-elections (in Rangitikei and Thames) also required second ballots.
The Second Ballot Act of 1908, which did not apply to the Maori electorates, was repealed in 1913.
The following table gives party strengths and vote distribution. [3]
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| Election results | ||||||
| Party | Candidates | Total votes | Percentage | Seats won | Change | |
| Liberal | 108 | 315,220 | 58.7 | 50 | -8 | |
| Conservative | 53 | 149,286 | 27.8 | 26 | +10 | |
| Ind. Labour League | 11 | 16,974 | 3.1 | 1 | +1 | |
| Socialist | 5 | 2,521 | 0.6 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Independent | 45 | 50,478 | 9.4 | 3 | -1 | |
The following are the results of the 1908 general election:
Key
Liberal Conservative Ind. Labour League Independent Liberal Liberal–Labour Independent
Table footnotes:
In New Zealand politics, Māori electorates, colloquially known as the Māori seats, are a special category of electorate that until 1967 gave reserved positions to representatives of Māori in the New Zealand Parliament. Every area in New Zealand is covered by both a general and a Māori electorate; as of 2020, there are seven Māori electorates. Since 1967 any candidate of any ethnicity has been able to stand in a Maori electorate. Candidates now do not have to be Māori, or even on the Māori roll. Voters however who wish to vote in a Māori electorate have to register as a voter on the Māori roll and need to declare they are of Māori descent.
The 1938 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 26th term. It resulted in the governing Labour Party being re-elected, although the newly founded National Party gained a certain amount of ground.
The 1902 New Zealand general election was held on Tuesday, 25 November, in the general electorates, and on Monday, 22 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 15th session of the New Zealand Parliament. A total number of 415,789 (76.7%) voters turned out to vote.
The 1905 New Zealand general election was held on Wednesday, 6 December in the general electorates, and on Wednesday, 20 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 16th session of the New Zealand Parliament. A total number of 412,702 voters turned out, with 396,657 voting in the European electorates.
The 1911 New Zealand general election 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 there was only one candidate.
The New Zealand electoral system has been mixed-member proportional (MMP) since the 1996 election. MMP was introduced following a referendum in 1993. It replaced the first-past-the-post (FPP) system New Zealand had previously used for most of its history. New Zealanders elect their members of parliament (MPs) with two votes. The first vote is for a candidate from an electorate. The second vote is used to elect ranked party lists.
Christchurch East, originally called Christchurch City East, is a current New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It was first created for the 1871 election and was abolished for two period, from 1875–1905 and again from 1946–1996. It was last created for the introduction of the MMP voting system for the 1996 election. The current MP is Poto Williams, a member of the New Zealand Labour Party who was first elected in the 2013 Christchurch East by-election.
Sir John George Findlay was a New Zealand politician of the Liberal Party, and was a Cabinet minister from 1906 to 1911.
Waimarino was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate that existed from 1911 to 1954, and from 1963 to 1972. It was rural in nature and was represented by four Members of Parliament.
Avon is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It was created for the 1861 general election and existed until 1996. It was represented by 13 Members of Parliament and was held by Independents, Liberal Party or Labour Party representatives.
Southern Maori was one of New Zealand's four original parliamentary Māori electorates established in 1868, along with Eastern Maori, Western Maori and Eastern Maori. In 1996, with the introduction of MMP, the Maori electorates were updated, and Southern Maori was replaced with the Te Tai Tonga and Te Puku O Te Whenua electorates.
Western Maori was one of New Zealand's four original parliamentary Māori electorates established in 1868, along with Northern Maori, Eastern Maori and Southern Maori. In 1996, with the introduction of MMP, the Maori electorates were updated, and Western Maori was replaced with the Te Tai Hauāuru and Te Puku O Te Whenua electorates.
Northern Maori was one of New Zealand's four original parliamentary Māori electorates established in 1868, along with Eastern Maori, Western Maori and Southern Maori. In 1996, with the introduction of MMP, the Maori electorates were updated, and Northern Maori was replaced with the Te Tai Tokerau electorate.
Hurunui was a parliamentary electorate in the Canterbury region of New Zealand, from 1902 to 1963.
David Jones was a Reform Party Member of Parliament in the Canterbury region of New Zealand. In September 1931, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Mines in the United–Reform Coalition Government, but he was unexpectedly defeated in the December 1931 general election. He was a farmer and involved with many farming organisations, and was instrumental in forming the New Zealand Farmers Union, which eventually developed into Federated Farmers. Outside parliament, he was best known for his involvement with the New Zealand Meat Producers Board, of which he was the inaugural chairman, and which he chaired for more than a decade.
Frank Franklin Hockly was a Reform Party Member of Parliament in New Zealand.
The 17th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the New Zealand Parliament. It was elected at the 1908 general election in November and December of that year.
The 18th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the New Zealand Parliament. It was elected at the 1911 general election in December of that year.
The Second Ballot Act 1908 was an electoral system in place from 1908 to 1913 in New Zealand. It applied to elections to the House of Representatives. It was used in the 1908 and 1911 general elections, and a number of by-elections. It was introduced by the Liberal Government under Joseph Ward, who feared that the emergence of the Independent Political Labour League (IPLL) would split the vote on the political left and thus be beneficial to the conservative opposition, who in 1909 formed the Reform Party. Ward expected that this electoral mechanism would result in all second ballots to be between Liberal and conservative (Reform) candidates. In the Wellington East electorate, however, two Liberal candidates received similar votes and both were eliminated in the first ballot. This left the Labour candidate, David McLaren, facing a conservative candidate and with many liberal voters transferring their allegiance to McLaren, he became the only candidate of the IPLL who was ever elected to the House of Representatives.
The 1909 Rangitikei by-election was a by-election held during the 17th New Zealand Parliament in the Rangitikei electorate of the North Island. This was the sixth by-election since the Rangitikei electorate was established for the 1861 election. The previous by-election took place in 1892 and the following one took place in 1978. The Second Ballot Act 1908 was in force and in the first ballot, and Frank Hockly of the opposition Reform Party won the first ballot, but Robert William Smith of the governing Liberal Party was ultimately chosen in the second ballot.
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