1951 New Zealand general election

Template:Short description Template:Use New Zealand English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox election The 1951 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 30th term. The First National Government was re-elected, with the National Party increasing its parliamentary majority over the opposition Labour Party. This was the last time until the Template:NZ election link that a party was elected to majority government of New Zealand by receiving a majority of the vote.

Background

The National Party had formed its first administration after the 1949 elections, in which it had ended four terms of government by the Labour Party.Template:Sfn The National government, with Sidney Holland as Prime Minister, had undertaken a number of economic and constitutional reforms, although it had not seriously modified the new social welfare system which Labour had introduced. Labour's leader, Peter Fraser, had died in December 1950 after a long period of poor health, and had been replaced in January 1951 by Walter Nash. Nash had been Minister of Finance for the duration of the first Labour government.Template:Sfn

The most significant issue in the 1951 elections was the growing industrial unrest of the time, particularly the ongoing dockworkers dispute. Holland condemned the strikers, calling the situation "industrial anarchy". The Labour Party, under Nash, attempted to take a moderate position in the dispute, but ended up displeasing both sides. Holland, seeking a mandate to respond strongly to the strike, called a snap election. Another issue was high inflation, which frustrated voters and without the distraction of the strike, might have threatened Holland's government at the scheduled election for 1952.<ref name="DNZB Holland">Template:DNZB</ref>

MPs retiring in 1951

Two MPs retired at the election, one each from Labour and National.

Party		Name	Electorate
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	Labour	Bill Parry	Arch Hill
style="background-color: Template:Party color" |	National	Frederick Doidge	Tauranga

The election

The date for the main 1951 elections was 1 September, and for the first time, elections to the four Maori seats were held on the same day.Template:Sfn The 1951 elections were also the first under the new regulations which required elections to be held on a Saturday. 1,205,762 people were registered to vote, and turnout was 89.1%.Template:Sfn The number of seats being contested was 80, a number which had been fixed since 1902.Template:Sfn

Results

Party standings

The 1951 election saw the governing National Party re-elected with a twenty-seat margin, a substantial improvement on the twelve-seat margin it previously held. National won fifty seats compared with the Labour Party's thirty.Template:Sfn The popular vote was closer, however, with National winning 54% to Labour's 46%.Template:Sfn No seats were won by minor party candidates or by independents.Template:Sfn No party then captured a majority of the vote until the 2020 election, when Labour won 50.01%.Template:Sfn

File:1951 nz parliament.svg
Election results
Party		Candidates	Total votes	Percentage	Seats won	change
Template:Party color cell	National	80	577,630	54.00	50	+4
Template:Party color cell	Labour	80	490,143	45.80	30	−4
Template:Party color cell	Communist	4	528	0.05	0	±0
Template:Party color cell	Others	7	1,490	0.14	0	±0
Total		171	1,069,791		80

Votes summary

<section begin="Electorate results" />Key
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|colspan=8 style="background-color:#FFDEAD" | General electorates

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| Hauraki
| style="background-color:Template:Party color;" |
| colspan=3 style="text-align:center;background-color:Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/shading;" | Andy Sutherland
| style="text-align:right;" | 4,468
| style="background-color:Template:Party color;" |
| style="text-align:center;" | Brevat William Dynes

|- Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result change Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result change Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result change Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result change Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold |-

|colspan=8 style="background-color:#FFDEAD" | Māori electorates

|- Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold Template:NZ electorate result hold |}

Table footnotes: Template:Reflist<section end="Electorate results" />

References

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