Skip to main content

Kōrero: Electoral systems

Seats in the House of Representatives, 1914–1925

Choose election year:

  • 1914

  • 1919

  • 1922

  • 1925

This interactive diagram shows the number of seats in the House of Representatives won by each political party in the elections of 1914, 1919, 1922 and 1925. In none of these four elections did the Reform Party (led by Bill Massey) win a majority of the popular vote. Yet in all of them except for 1922 Reform won a clear majority of the seats in Parliament. This was a consequence of the first-past-the-post voting system, which favours major parties and penalises minor parties.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Te Ara - The Encyclopedia of New Zealand

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Nigel S. Roberts, Electoral systems – Back to first-past-the-post, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/interactive/35671/seats-in-the-house-of-representatives-1914-1925 (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Nigel S. Roberts, i tāngia i te 14 June 2012, updated 1 February 2015.