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New Zealand General Election 1978The 1978 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to elect the 39th New Zealand Parliament. It saw the governing National Party, led by Robert Muldoon, retain office, although the opposition Labour Party managed to win the largest share of the vote. Background The National Party had won a resounding victory in the 1975 elections, taking fifty-five of the eighty-seven seats and ousting the Labour Party from government. Labour had been led by Bill Rowling, who had assumed the post of Prime Minister on the death in office of the popular Norman Kirk. Labour won the remaining thirty-two seats in that election, with no other parties gaining entry to Parliament. Labour's Rowling had been criticised by many for inadequately countering Muldoon's confrontational style, and was widely perceived as "weak". Following Labour's defeat, there had been speculation about replacing Rowling as leader of the party, but Rowling managed to retain his position. Gradually, as some people wearied of Muldoon's style, Rowling's more reserved manner was held up as an asset rather than a weakness, and Labour began to gain a certain amount of traction again. Muldoon remained a powerful opponent, however, and was regarded as a strong campaigner. Not long before the 1978 election, a by-election in Rangitikei caused considerable comment when it introduced a third party to Parliament: Bruce Beetham, leader of the Social Credit Party. Although other parties dismissed Social Credit's success as a fluke, Beetham predicted a great future for the party. The election The election was held on the 25th of November. 2,487,594 people were officially registered to vote in the elections, making the election the first one in which there were more than two million registered voters. However, the electoral roll in 1978 was significantly out of date, and contained numerous duplicate entries. The cause of this confusion was a major redistribution of electoral boundaries which had been implemented the year before. The actual number of potential voters is estimated to have been about 2,100,000, and actual turnout is estimated to have been about 80% (as compared to the official turnout of only 69.2%). A 80% would have been slightly lower than the turnout for the previous election. Summary of results The 1978 election saw the National Party win fifty-one seats in parliament, a majority of several seats. This allowed it to retain power. The Labour Party won forty seats. The Social Credit Party retained the Rangitikei seat, which it had won in a by-election shortly before the election. No other parties won seats, and there were no successful independent candidates. While National won a majority of seats in parliament, it did not actually win a majority of the vote. Labour received the highest number of votes, winning slightly more than forty percent. National, by contrast, won slightly less than forty percent. Social Credit, despite winning only one seat, actually received around sixteen percent of the vote. Detailed results Table | lign=center|Party | align=center|Candidates | align=center|Total votes | align=center|Percentage | align=center|Seats won | a href="/encyclopedia/New-Zealand-National-Party" title="New Zealand National Party">National Party | align=center|92 | align=center|680,991 | align=center|39.8% | align=center|51 | a href="/encyclopedia/New-Zealand-Labour-Party" title="New Zealand Labour Party">Labour Party | align=center|92 | align=center|691,976 | align=center|40.4% | align=center|40 | a href="/encyclopedia/Social-Credit-Party-(New-Zealand)" title="Social Credit Party (New Zealand)">Social Credit Party | align=center|92 | align=center|274,756 | align=center|16.1% | align=center|1 | a href="/encyclopedia/Values-Party" title="Values Party">Values Party | align=center|92 | align=center|41,220 | align=center|2.4% | align=center|- | thers | align=center|53 | align=center|22,130 | align=center|1.3% | align=center|- | Map Summary of changes For details about the winners of each individual electorate, see the article on the 39th Parliament. - Electoral redistributions:
- A major reconfiguration of electorates and their boundaries occurred in 1977. This resulted in twenty-two electorates being dissolved and twenty-five new electorates being formed (a net gain of five electorates).
- The seats of Bay of Plenty, Coromandel, Egmont, Franklin, Grey Lynn, Henderson, Hobson, Hutt, Karori, Manukau, Oamaru, Petone, Piako, Rakaia, Riccarton, Rodney, Ruahine, South Canterbury, Stratford, Waitemata, and Wigram ceased to exist.
- The seats of Albany, Ashburton, Bay of Islands, East Cape, Eastern Hutt, Helensville, Horowhenua, Hunua, Kaimai, Kaipara, Matamata, Ohariu, Papakura, Papatoetoe, Pencarrow, Rangiriri, Selwyn, Taranaki, Tarewera, Te Atatu, Waipa, Waitakere, Waitaki, Waitotara, and Yaldhurst came into being.
- Seats captured:
- By Labour: Hastings, Lyttelton, Manurewa, Palmerston North, Papanui, Taupo, and Western Hutt were captured from National.
- By National: None
- By Social Credit: None
- Seats transferred from departing MPs to new MPs:
- The seats of Clutha, Manawatu, Marlborough, Pakuranga, and Rotorua, all held by departing National MPs, were successfully won by new National candidates.
- The seats of Dunedin North, Island Bay, St Albans, and West Coast, all held by departing Labour MPs, were successfully won by new Labour candidates.
1978
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