Pages tagged with: politics

Pivotal political and constitutional events with links to further information

Did one of your ancestors sign the giant 1893 petition calling for women’s right to vote? This historic document records the names of one in five New Zealand women at the time. Now you can search their names in an online database and contribute comments and information about them.

A history of the movement that won New Zealand women the vote in 1893

From 1853 until 1993 (apart from 1908–13) New Zealand elections were held under the first past the post (FPP) or plurality system.

Women's suffrage milestones from 1869 to 1999

Summary of what NZ was like in the 1960s, including our population, economy, popular culture, sporting achievements and technology

A list of New Zealand Premiers and Prime Ministers from 1856 to the present

Three years after the vote was won in 1893, a convention of representatives of 11 women's groups from throughout New Zealand resolved itself into the National Council of Women.

Although only 55% of electors took part in a referendum, an overwhelming 85% voted to change their electoral system. In the second part of the poll, 70% favoured mixed member proportional representation (MMP). As Labour leader Mike Moore put it: 'The people didn't speak on Saturday. They screamed.'

The three years following the 1993 referendum, before the first MMP election in 1996, were ones of transition and uncertainty.

The first member of New Zealand's inaugural Parliament was elected unopposed at Russell in the Bay of Islands. It would take a further two and a half months to elect the remaining 36 members of the House of Representatives.

Established at a conference in Wellington on 13-14 May 1936, the National Party was to dominate New Zealand politics in the second half of the 20th century.

The alliance between the Ratana Church and the Labour Party was cemented at an historic meeting between T.W. Ratana and Prime Minister M.J. Savage on 22 April 1936.

This country's oldest existing political party, the New Zealand Labour Party emerged from a joint conference of the United Federation of Labour and the Social Democratic Party in Wellington.

Sir Guy Powles became New Zealand's first Ombudsman. Loosely translated from Swedish, the term Ombudsman means ‘grievance person’. The office was created to investigate complaints about government departments and other national public sector organisations.

Prime Minister Robert Muldoon surprisingly announced a snap election for 14 July. He hoped to catch the opposition Labour Party under-prepared, but the gamble backfired and National suffered a heavy defeat.

United Party Prime Minister George Forbes had convened an inter-party conference with the goal of forming a coalition government that would 'share the responsibility' of dealing with the Depression. Labour withdrew from these discussions but the leader of the conservative Reform Party was unable to resist pressure to heed this call.

After 14 years of Labour government, voters were tired of continuing shortages and regulations. The National Party would be in power for 29 of the next 35 years.

Ballance was the first Liberal Premier. He laid the foundation for a government that supposedly made New Zealand ‘the social laboratory of the world’.

Lee's criticisms of the dying Prime Minister M.J. Savage's leadership and his dissatisfaction with economic policy led to his expulsion from the Labour Party. Savage died two days later.