1954 New Zealand general election
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All 80 seats in the House of Representatives 41 seats were needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Turnout | 1,096,877 (91.4%)  | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Results of the election. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1954 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 31st term. It saw the governing National Party remain in office, but with a slightly reduced majority. It also saw the debut of the new Social Credit Party, which won more than eleven percent of the vote but failed to win a seat.
Background
[edit]The National Party had formed its first administration after the 1949 elections. It had then been re-elected by a large margin amid the industrial disputes of the 1951 election. The Prime Minister, Sidney Holland, was popular in many sectors of society for his strong line against striking dockworkers and coalminers, while Labour's leader, Walter Nash, had been criticised for his failure to take a firm stand on the issue. Labour was troubled by internal disputes, with Nash subjected to an unsuccessful leadership challenge only a few months before the election.[1] For the election, the National government adopted a "steady as she goes" approach, saying that the country was in good hands and did not need any major policy realignments.
Nash tried to make the election about the issue of cost-of-living with most of Labour's campaign promises being financial policies. He frequently highlighted the fact that in 1949 National had promised to "make the pound go further" but five years on what cost £1 (20 shillings) now cost 28 shillings. Labour's campaign promises included raising the child allowance to 15 shillings a week, housing loans with only 3% interest and the introduction of a PAYE income taxation system.[2] After a slow start to his campaign, things improved for Nash towards the end of his campaign. This was evidenced by his audiences becoming more enthusiastic such as one meeting held at the Auckland Town Hall where a crowd of 10,000 impatiently telling the first speaker, trade union president Fintan Patrick Walsh, to sit down and a chant of "we want Walter" breaking out.[3]
The Social Credit campaign meetings aroused far more public interest than those of the main parties. A common public perception was Labour and National were increasingly close to each other on policies compared to the substantial policy differences in the 1930s. In an attempt to counter the public enthusiasm to Social Credit, Labour promised mid-campaign to make the state the sole authority for the issue of credit and currency.[2]
The election
[edit]The date for the main 1954 elections was 13 November. 1,209,670 people were registered to vote, and turnout was 91.4%. The number of seats being contested was 80, a number which had been fixed since 1902.
The following new (or reconstituted) electorates were introduced in 1954: Heretaunga, Manukau, Rotorua, Stratford, Waipa and Waitemata.[4] Two candidates, both called John Stewart, came second; in Auckland Central for National and in Eden for Labour.[5]
MPs retiring in 1954
[edit]Ten MPs retired at the election, see cartoon.[6]
Paddy Kearins also left parliament at the election. His electorate of Waimarino was abolished and he failed to gain selection to stand for Labour in the replacement electorate of Rotorua.[7] Two Labour MPs had announced their intention to retire at the 1954 election (Harry Combs MP for Onslow and Arthur Osborne MP for Onehunga) but died before the end of the parliament.[8][9]
Results
[edit]The 1954 election saw the governing National Party re-elected with a ten-seat margin, a drop from the twenty-seat margin it previously held. National won forty-five seats to the Labour Party's thirty-five. The popular vote was much closer, however, with the two parties separated by only 0.2% (1,602 votes). On preliminary results Labour was leading in 37 seats and was actually ahead of National in the popular vote by 0.33%.[10] No seats were won by minor party candidates or by independents, but the new Social Credit Party managed to win 11.2% of the vote, and it can be argued that Social Credit saved the National Government by providing an alternative to Labour and so minimising the two-party swing.[11] Nash argued that Social Credit's impact on the election was being a spoiler, claiming Labour was denied victory because of this.[12]
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| Election results | ||||||
| Party | Candidates | Total votes | Percentage | Seats won | change | |
| National | 79 | 485,630 | 44.3 | 45 | −5 | |
| Labour | 80 | 484,028 | 44.1 | 35 | +5 | |
| Social Credit | 79 | 122,573 | 11.2 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Communist | 8 | 1,134 | 0.1 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Independents | 9 | 3,474 | 0.3 | 0 | ±0 | |
| Total | 255 | 1,096,877 | 80 | |||
Votes summary
[edit]The table below shows the results of the 1954 general election:
Key
National Labour Independent Social Credit
- Table footnotes
- ^ John Stewart was first on election night, but lost when special votes were included
- ^ Tom McGuigan was first on election night, but lost when special votes were included
- ^ National deselected the sitting MP (Alfred Murdoch) (q.v.) in favour of William Vallance; then Vallance had tax problems and was replaced by Don McKay. When Vallance ran as an independent candidate, the vote-splitting almost cost National the seat.[16]
- ^ David Campbell Kidd, the National Party MP for Waimate, died less than two months before the election, leaving his seat vacant.[17]
Notes
[edit]- ^ Sinclair 1976, pp. 292–4.
- ^ a b Sinclair 1976, p. 294.
- ^ Sinclair 1976, pp. 294–5.
- ^ Norton 1988, pp. 7–9.
- ^ Norton 1988, pp. 193, 220.
- ^ "The First Eleven (retiring MPs)". National Library of New Zealand.
- ^ "Party Influence Alleged In Candidate's Selection". The Evening Post. 2 October 1954.
- ^ "Mr. H. E. Combs, M.P., Dead". The Evening Post. 12 June 1954. p. 13.
- ^ "Mr Osborne Dies After Long Illness". The New Zealand Herald. 16 November 1953. p. 10.
- ^ "Government Wins Election – Labour Gains Seven Seats". The Press. Vol. XC, no. 27507. 15 November 1954. p. 10.
- ^ Gustafson 1986, p. 66.
- ^ "Mr Nash Says Labour Will Continue Fight – A Statement Amended". The New Zealand Herald. 15 November 1954. p. 9.
- ^ Norton 1988, pp. ?.
- ^ Norton 1988, p. 214.
- ^ Norton 1988, p. 222.
- ^ Gustafson 1986, p. 235.
- ^ Wilson 1985, p. 210.
- ^ Espiner, Guyon (3 March 2012). "Profile: Labour deputy Grant Robertson". New Zealand Listener. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
- ^ Gustafson 1986, p. 353.
- ^ Gustafson 1986, p. 355.
References
[edit]- Gustafson, Barry (1986). The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party. Auckland: Reed Methuen. ISBN 0-474-00177-6.
- Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.
- Sinclair, Keith (1976). Walter Nash. Auckland: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-647949-5.
- Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
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