Everything about New Zealand General Election 1938 totally explained
The
1938 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the
New Zealand Parliament's
26th term. It resulted in the governing
Labour Party being re-elected, although the newly-founded
National Party gained a certain amount of ground.
Background
The
Labour Party had won a resounding victory in the
1935 elections, winning fifty-three seats. Shortly after the elections, the two
Ratana-aligned MPs also merged into the Labour Party, giving Labour a total of fifty-five seats. The government, a coalition of the
United Party and the
Reform Party, had won only nineteen seats. Shortly after their defeat, United and Reform agreed to merge into the
National Party, which positioned itself as the only alternative to the "
socialist" Labour Party. However, Labour remained popular with the public, and the
Prime Minister,
Michael Joseph Savage, was widely praised for his welfare reform. The leadership of the National Party, by contrast, was closely associated by the public with the
Great Depression, and struggled to gain traction.
The election
The date for the main 1938 elections was 15 October, a Saturday. Elections to the four
Maori seats were held the day before. 995,173 people were registered to vote, and there was a
turnout of 92.9%. This turnout was the highest ever recorded at that point, although it was later exceeded in the two elections after
World War II and in the
1984 elections. The number of seats being contested was 80, a number which had been fixed since 1902.
Results
The 1938 election saw a decisive win for the governing
Labour Party, which won fifty-three seats. This was a drop of two from what it held prior to the election. The National Party won twenty-five seats, an increase of six from that the United/Reform coalition had previously won. Both Labour and National increased their share of the popular vote, with Labour winning 55.8% (up from 46.1%) and National winning 40.3% (up from 32.9%). This increase was at the expense of the
Democrat Party and the
Country Party, which saw their votes collapse completely — the Democrats again failed to win a place in Parliament, while the Country Party lost the two seats it held. Independent candidates also lost ground, with only two being elected.
| Party |
Candidates |
Total votes |
Percentage |
Seats won |
| Labour Party |
? |
528,290 |
55.8% |
53 |
| National Party |
? |
381,081 |
40.3% |
25 |
| Others |
? |
37,022 |
3.9% |
2 |
| Total Valid Votes |
|
946,393 |
|
|
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