1919 New Zealand general election

1919 general election

← 1914 16 (Māori) & 17 December (general) 1919 1922 →
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All 80 seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives 41 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	80.5%
First party Second party Third party   Leader William Massey Joseph Ward Harry Holland Party Reform Liberal Labour Leader since 11 February 1909 11 September 1913 27 August 1919 Leader's seat Franklin Awarua (lost seat) Grey Last election 40 seats, 47.1% 34 seats, 43.1% 5 seats, 8.4%[a] Seats before 39 34 5 Seats won 45 19 8 Seat change 6 15 3 Popular vote 193,676 155,708 131,402 Percentage 35.7% 28.7% 24.2% Swing 11.4% 14.4% 15.8%
Results of the election.
Prime Minister before election William Massey Reform Subsequent Prime Minister William Massey Reform

The 1919 New Zealand general election was held on Tuesday, 16 December in the Māori electorates and on Wednesday, 17 December in the general electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 20th session of the New Zealand Parliament. A total number of 560,673 (80.5%) voters turned out to vote.^[1]

In 1919 women won the right to be elected to the House of Representatives. The law was changed late that year, and with only three weeks' notice, three women stood for Parliament.

They were Ellen Melville in Grey Lynn, Rosetta Baume in Parnell, and Aileen Cooke in Thames. Ellen Melville stood for the Reform Party and came second. She stood for Parliament several more times and generally polled well but never won a seat.

This is the most recent general election in which none of the major party leaders were born in New Zealand.

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