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All 80 seats in the New Zealand Parliament 41 seats were needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 1,047,205 (93.5%) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Results of the election. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1946 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 28th term. It saw the governing Labour Party re-elected, but by a substantially narrower margin than in the three previous elections. The National Party continued its gradual rise.
The Labour Party had been in government since winning the 1935 elections, and had been re-elected twice. However, the National Party had managed to overcome the internal problems which had once troubled it, and now presented a credible threat to Labour. National's leader, Sidney Holland, was proving more effective than his predecessor, while the Prime Minister, Peter Fraser, was weary and in poor health. The after-effects of World War II, including ongoing shortages, were affecting the government's popularity.
The next New Zealand census was scheduled for 1946, but having had to postpone the 1941 census due to WWII, the government brought it forward. The 1945 census was held on Tuesday, 25 September, so that the results could be used for the 1946 electoral redistribution prior to the planned 1946 election. [1] In August 1945, there was a first hint that the government considered abolishing the country quota through the Electoral Amendment Act, 1945. [2] The amendment bill was introduced on 18 October 1945 and proposed the complete abolition of the country quota and that electorates be based on adult, as opposed to total, population. [3] The Electoral Amendment Act, 1945 was given royal assent on 12 November [4] and it reduced the number and increased the size of rural electorates. None of the existing electorates remained unchanged, 26 electorates were abolished, 19 electorates were created for the first time, and six former electorates were re-established. [5] The 1946 electoral redistribution had to take ten years of population growth and movements into account. The North Island gained a further two electorates from the South Island due to faster population growth.
Five Labour MPs and one National MP intended to retire at the end of the Parliament.
| Party | Name | Electorate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Joe Hodgens | Palmerston North | |
| Leonard Lowry | Otaki | ||
| Peter Neilson | Dunedin Central | ||
| Ben Roberts | Wairarapa | ||
| Paddy Webb | Buller | ||
| National | Adam Hamilton | Wallace | |
The election should have been held earlier. The 27th parliament "forgot to mark the calendar, forgot the previous election had been earlier than usual and accidentally ran for two extra months". [6]
The date for the main 1946 elections was 27 November, a Wednesday. Elections to the four Māori electorates were held the day before. 1,081,898 people were registered to vote, and there was a turnout of 93.5%. This turnout was the highest ever recorded at this point. The number of seats being contested was 80, a number which had been fixed since 1902. [7]
The 1946 election saw the governing Labour Party retain office by a four-seat margin, winning forty-two seats to the National Party's thirty-eight. In the popular vote — Labour won 51.3% and National won 48.4%. The election was a straight fight between the two main parties (unlike the 1943 election), and only 8 of the 76 European electorates had more than two candidates. The Democratic Labour Party did not take part, and National absorbed many of the miscellaneous candidates and splinter movements. The European electorates divided equally and the Maori seats decided the issue. [8]
No other parties won any significant share of the vote, and no independents were elected — only 0.3% of voters did not support one of the two major parties. After Harry Atmore of Nelson died, no candidate who was not from the two main parties managed to enter Parliament until the 1966 elections, when the Social Credit Party won its first seat.
 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Election results | ||||||
| Party | Candidates | Total votes | Percentage | Seats won | Change | |
| Labour | 80 | 536,994 | 51.28 | 42 | -3 | |
| National | 80 | 507,149 | 48.43 | 38 | +4 | |
| Communist | 3 | 1,181 | 0.11 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Independent | 9 | 2,886 | 0.18 | 0 | -1 | |
| Total | 172 | 1,047,210 | 80 | |||
The table below shows the results of the 1946 general election:
Key
Table footnotes:
The 1972 New Zealand general election was held on 25 November to elect MPs to the 37th session of the New Zealand Parliament. The Labour Party, led by Norman Kirk, defeated the governing National Party.
The 1969 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of Parliament's 36th term. It saw the Second National Government headed by Prime Minister Keith Holyoake of the National Party win a fourth consecutive term. This is the most recent election where an incumbent government won a fourth term in office.
Arch Hill was one of 80 electorates in New Zealand between 1946 and 1954. Located in central Auckland, the electorate was considered a safe seat for the Labour Party in its eight years of existence.
Mount Albert is a parliamentary electorate based around the suburb of Mount Albert in Auckland, New Zealand, returning one member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Representatives. It has elected only Labour Party MPs since it was first contested at the 1946 election. The electorate is currently held by Helen White and was recently represented by Jacinda Ardern, formerly Prime Minister of New Zealand, who was first elected in a 2017 by-election and stepped down from parliament on 15 April 2023. Before her, Mt Albert was represented by David Shearer from 13 June 2009 to 31 December 2016; it was represented by Helen Clark from the 1981 general election until her resignation from Parliament on 17 April 2009.
Piako was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate established in 1946 and disestablished in 2008. It was last held by Lindsay Tisch MP from 2002 to 2008.
Waitakere was a parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. The electorate was first formed for the 1946 election and existed until 2014, with breaks from 1969 to 1978 and from 1987 to 1993. The last MP for Waitakere was Paula Bennett of the National Party, who had held this position since the 2008 election.
Brooklyn was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate in Wellington city from 1946 to 1954. It was represented by two prominent members of the Labour Party: Peter Fraser, who was Prime Minister (1940–1949), and Arnold Nordmeyer, who was later Minister of Finance (1957–1960).
Mount Victoria is a former New Zealand electorate, centred on the inner-city suburb of Mount Victoria in the southern suburbs of Wellington. It existed from 1946 to 1954, and was represented by one Member of Parliament, Jack Marshall.
Miramar was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate in the south-eastern suburbs of Wellington. It was created in 1946, replacing Wellington East, and was replaced by Rongotai for the first MMP election of 1996.
Hamilton is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate that existed from 1922 to 1969. The electorate covered the urban area of the city of Hamilton. In 1969, the city was part of two rural electorates, Hamilton East and Waikato. For the 1972 election, the nature of Hamilton East changed to urban, and the Hamilton West electorate complements it to form a second urban electorate.
Petone is a former parliamentary electorate in the lower Hutt Valley of New Zealand, from 1946 to 1978. The electorate was represented by two Members of Parliament from the Labour Party.
Waitemata was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate, from 1871 to 1946, and then from 1954 to 1978. It was represented by 18 members of parliament.
Hobson is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It existed from 1946 to 1978 and then from 1987 to 1996, and was represented by five Members of Parliament, four of whom represented the National Party. It is notable for returning a member of the Social Credit Party in the 1966 election, as no other candidate not aligned with either Labour or National had been elected to Parliament since 1943. With the re-drawing of boundaries in the first MMP election in 1996, the seat was absorbed into the Northland and Whangarei electorates.
Grey Lynn is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate, in the city of Auckland. It existed from 1902 to 1978, and was represented by nine Members of Parliament.
Fendalton is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It existed during two periods between 1946 and 1996. The electorate was in the western suburbs of Christchurch, New Zealand. Fendalton is an expensive suburb, and was always represented by the National Party.
Remuera is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate, in the city of Auckland. It existed from 1938, when it replaced the Parnell electorate, until 1996. It was consistently held by members of the National Party.
Mornington is a former parliamentary electorate from 1946 to 1963, centred on the suburb of Mornington in the city of Dunedin, New Zealand.
Ponsonby was a parliamentary electorate in Auckland, New Zealand from 1887 to 1890 and from 1946 to 1963. The Ponsonby electorate was represented by two Members of Parliament.
Hastings was a parliamentary electorate in the Hawke's Bay Region of New Zealand from 1946 to 1996. The electorate was represented by nine Members of Parliament. The Hastings electorate was a typical bellwether electorate, frequently changing between the two main parties.
The 28th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the New Zealand Parliament. It was elected at the 1946 general election in November of that year.
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