Pages tagged with: voting

2008 marks the 155th anniversary of our first parliamentary elections. Politics may have changed beyond recognition since 1853, but the key elements of the election − the clamour of the hustings, the power of advertising, and the drama of polling day − remain as relevant as ever.

In 1993 New Zealanders voted in a referendum to change their voting system from the traditional first past the post (FPP) method to mixed member proportional representation (MMP). How and why did this dramatic change come about?

Hear Mrs Mantelow talk about suffrage and prohibition.

On 19 September 1893 New Zealand became the first self-governing country in the world to grant all women the right to vote in parliamentary elections.

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

Even though New Zealand's electoral franchise (right to vote) was more generous than Britain's, the colony's early elections were in many ways small-scale replicas of those in the UK.

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

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

The New Zealand Parliament was alarmed by reports of electoral abuses in Auckland in the 1850s. It decided that electoral laws needed to be tightened, and in 1858 passed a series of reform acts, which defined and prohibited treating, bribery and exercising 'undue influence' over electors.

 

During the 1981 and 1984 campaigns, Labour promised to set up a Royal Commission to look into a wide range of issues relating to the electoral system.

Although a number of other territories had enfranchised women before 1893, New Zealand can justly claim to be the first self-governing nation to grant the vote to all adult women.

After the colour and controversy of the 1850s, election days in New Zealand have generally been orderly affairs. Even so, election nights could still be lively occasions.

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 fall and rise of Maori seats in the 20th century

Given the printing technology of the time, early election posters and hoardings were inevitably simple.

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

Electors queue to vote at the Wellington Town Hall on 26 November 1960.

A vast crowd outside the Evening Post office in Willis Street, Wellington, on the night of the 1931 general election.

‘Lady voters’ approach the polling booth at the Drill Hall in Rutland Street, just off Queen Street, Auckland, on 6 December 1899.

Women vote for the first time at a polling station in the tiny South Otago settlement of Tahakopa on 28 November 1893.

This poster from the 1993 referendum campaign is in support of mixed member proportional representation (MMP).

As 1996 and the first mixed member proportional representation (MMP) election approached, the recently established Electoral Commission and other electoral agencies co-ordinated an extensive campaign of public education.

Polling booth sign on election day

Maori men and women congregate outside the Rotorua courthouse on election day, possibly in 1908.

A Maori polling booth at Te Whaiti, Urewera

Hear Mrs Perryman talk about the suffrage campaign and describe voting for the first time in the 1893 election.

Panorama of the Ayes lobby of the House of Representatives. Includes commentary by John O'Sullivan, former General Manager of the Parliamentary Service