Joseph Ward Liberal Joseph Ward Liberal The 1911 New Zealand general election was held on Thursday, 7 and 14 December in the general electorates, and on Tuesday, 19 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 80 MPs to the 18th session of the New Zealand Parliament.

[5] Liberal Prime Minister Joseph Ward was able to retain office, but in 1912, Reform Party founder William Massey formed a new government.

Several candidates before the election made commitments to support the Ward Government in the event of a no-confidence motion in the House of Representatives.

Ward considered delaying a new session of the house, perhaps for six months until June 1912, but following some tough talking from the Governor-General John Dickson-Poynder, he set the date as 15 February.

[7] To speed up the negotiating process, Ward promised to resign as Prime Minister after the Reform Party's no-confidence motion was defeated.