• Source: 1896 New Zealand general election

The 1896 New Zealand general election was held on Wednesday, 4 December in the general electorates, and on Thursday, 19 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 74 MPs to the 13th session of the New Zealand Parliament. A total number of 337,024 (76.1%) voters turned out to vote.
1896 was the year the limit of £200 was placed on each candidate's campaign spending.




Background


The Liberal government campaigned on a platform that the election was between the people and the "selfish few". The economy stagnated, raising unemployment, which caused support for the Liberals to fall in the cities and they lost many seats, though not enough to be removed from office by the Conservatives. In rural areas, the swing in support was not as large due to the public works and land settlement programmes helping to support the regions. In June 1896 Seddon had replaced Joseph Ward as Finance Minister whilst the latter had resigned after being declared temporarily bankrupt. As such Seddon himself took on the workload of the treasury making him more susceptible to opposition attacks over the economy. He proved to be a cautious financier, budgeting for surpluses while maintaining the spirit of self reliance his predecessor John Ballance had advocated.




Results






= Party totals

=
The following table gives party strengths and vote distribution according to Wilson (1985), who records Maori representatives as Independents prior to the 1905 election.




= Votes summary

=

The table below shows the results of the 1896 general election:
Key
Liberal
Conservative
Independent Liberal
Liberal–Labour
Independent

Table footnotes:

The election of Thomas Wilford for the electorate of Suburbs of Wellington was declared void by an election petition on the grounds of corrupt and illegal practices. Charles Wilson was elected MP for that electorate following a by-election on 23 April 1897.




Summary of changes


A boundary redistribution resulted in the abolition of seven seats:
Chalmers, held by John A. Millar
Inangahua, held by Patrick O'Regan
New Plymouth, held by Edward Smith
Pareora, held by Frederick Flatman
Rangitata, held by William Maslin
Waimea-Sounds, held by Charles Mills
Waipa, held by Frederic Lang
At the same time, seven new seats came into being:
Geraldine
Hawera
Manawatu
Motueka
Ohinemuri
Pahiatua
Taranaki




Notes






References


Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand parliamentary record, 1840–1984 (4 ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
Hamer, David A. (1988). The New Zealand Liberals: The Years of Power, 1891–1912. Auckland: Auckland University Press. ISBN 1 86940 014 3.

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Orang Māori
• Amerika Serikat
• Tuvalu
• Catlins
• Olimpiade Musim Panas 2012
• 1896 New Zealand general election
• 1899 New Zealand general election
• 1893 New Zealand general election
• 1902 New Zealand general election
• List of elections in 1896
• New Zealand Parliament
• 13th New Zealand Parliament
• Timeline of New Zealand history
• 1896 in New Zealand
• List of New Zealand by-elections