On this day 118 years ago, New Zealand held general elections to elect 74 members of parliament. The remarkable feature of the elections was that it was the first time that all women over the age of 21 had been given the unrestricted right to vote at general elections in any currently existing independent country. The election was won by the Liberal Party, and Richard Seddon, who had become Premier earlier the same year, retained his position as Premier.
The build up to the granting of women’s suffrage was an interesting one. The Women’s Temperance Christian Union and various others had been campaigning for suffrage for about 20 years, arguing that female voting would increase the morality of politics, and would encourage policies which protected and nurtured families. Various attempts were made to pass laws enabling female suffrage, but they were unsuccessful until 1893.
Support for the right of women to vote was growing, and the 1893 bill to allow female suffrage passed through the House of Representatives with a large majority. The Legislative Council was divided on the issue, and Richard Seddon ordered a Liberal Party councillor to change his vote and vote against the bill. This sufficiently annoyed two other councillors that they changed sides and voted in favour of the bill, which passed 20 votes to 18. In the years that followed, universal suffrage was enacted in countries all over the world.