The 1922 New Zealand general election was held on Monday, 6 December in the
Māori electorates, and on Tuesday, 7 December in the general electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the
21st session of the
New Zealand Parliament. A total number of 700,111 (87.7%) voters turned out to vote.[1] In one seat (
Bay of Plenty) there was only one candidate.[2][3]
1922 was the year residents of the
Chatham Islands were enfranchised for the first time (included in
Lyttelton and Western Māori electorates).
Result
William Massey formed a government, but with the loss in support for the
Reform Party he had to negotiate for support with Independents, and with two
Liberal Party members.[4]
Liberal was in decline and disorganised. Just before the
1925 election (held on 4 November), two Liberal MPs from Christchurch who had supported Massey (along with Independents
Harry Atmore and
Allen Bell) were appointed to the
Legislative Council. They were
Leonard Isitt and
George Witty who were both appointed to the Legislative Council by
Gordon Coates on 28 October 1925. Both were
Liberals and their retirement removed "a source of some bitterness from the Party’s ranks (Coates rewarded them with seats in the Legislative Council the day after the election)".[5]Gordon Coates was Reform, and both of their seats went to
Reform candidates in 1925.
*Note: For numbers of candidates see Wilson (1985) p. 295; for numbers of votes and percentage see Wilson (1985) p. 289. Electorate results given below include 38 Reform and 21 Liberal members. The figures given in the table agree with Mackie and Rose, as well as the article on
New Zealand elections.
Chapman, Robert M. (1948). The Significance of the 1928 General Election: A Study in Certain Trends in New Zealand Politics During the Nineteen-Twenties (Thesis). Massey University.
Chapman, Robert M. (1969). The Political Scene 1919–1931. Heinemann.