1890 New Zealand general election

1890 general election

← 1887 27 November (Māori) & 5 December (general) 1890 1893 →
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All 74 seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	80.4%
First party Second party   Leader John Ballance Harry Atkinson Party Liberal Conservative Leader since 6 July 1889 25 September 1883 Leader's seat Wanganui Egmont Last election 34 seats 52 seats Seats won 40 25 Seat change 6 27 Popular vote 76,548 39,338 Percentage 56.1% 28.9%
Results of the election.
Premier before election Harry Atkinson Conservative Subsequent Premier John Ballance Liberal

The 1890 New Zealand general election was one of New Zealand's most significant.^[1] It marked the beginning of party politics in New Zealand with the formation of the Liberal Government, which was to enact major welfare, labour and electoral reforms, including giving the vote to women.

It was also the first election in which there was no legal plural voting. Multi-member electorates were re-introduced in the four main centres and the 'country quota' (which gave more weight to rural votes) was increased to 28%.

Following the election and the resignation of the previous government headed by Harry Atkinson, John Ballance formed the first Liberal Party ministry, taking office on 24 January 1891. At this stage no formal party organisation existed, but the formation of the Liberal ministry signalled the end of the system by which governments were made up of a loose and unstable coalition of independent MPs and the beginning of the 'party system'.