prohibition. He had expected to stop the bill in the upper house, but found that one more vote was needed. Thomas Kelly, a new Liberal Party councillor had left himself paired in favour of the measure, but Seddon obtained his consent by wire to change his vote. Seddon's manipulation so incensed two opposition councillors, William Reynolds and Edward Stevens that they changed sides and voted for the bill, which was passed by 20 votes to 18 so giving the vote to women. Both the Liberals and the Conservatives subsequently claimed credit for sponsoring the enfranchisement of women and both sought to acquire women's votes, although the Liberals benefitted more. The election The 1893 election was held on Tuesday, 28 November in the general electorates, and on Wednesday, 20 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 74 MPs to the 12th Parliament. A total number of 302,997 (75.3%) voters turned out to vote. 65% of all eligible New Zealand women voted in the 1893 election. In 3 seats there was only one candidate. 31 and 39 electorates were in the North Island and South Island, respectively, plus the 4 Māori electorates. Results Party totals The following table gives party strengths and vote distribution according to Wilson (1985), who records Maori representatives as Independents prior to the . Votes summary Electorate results The following is a table of electorate results by electorate. Key |- |colspan=8 style="background-color:#FFDEAD" | General electorates |- |- | rowspan=3 | Auckland, City of | style="background-color:;" | | style="text-align:center;" | John Shera | style="background-color:;" | | style="text-align:center;background-color:;" | George Grey | style="text-align:right;" | 2,233 | rowspan=3 style="background-color:;" | | rowspan=3 style="text-align:center;" | Thomas Tudehope |- | style="background-color:;" | | style="text-align:center;" | Thomas Thompson | style="background-color:;" | | style="text-align:center;background-color:;" | William Crowther | style="text-align:right;" | 438 |- | style="background-color:;" | | style="text-align:center;" | Alfred Cadman | style="background-color:;" | | style="text-align:center;background-color:;" | Charles Button | style="text-align:right;" | 68 |- |- | rowspan=3 | Christchurch, City of | style="background-color:;" | | colspan=3 style="text-align:center;background-color:;" | William Pember Reeves | style="text-align:right;" | 1,848 | rowspan=3 style="background-color:;" | | rowspan=3 style="text-align:center;" | Ebenezer Sandford |- | style="background-color:;" | | style="text-align:center;" | Ebenezer Sandford | style="background-color:;" | | style="text-align:center;background-color:;" | George Smith | style="text-align:right;" | 916 |- | style="background-color:;" | | style="text-align:center;" | Richard Molesworth Taylor | style="background-color:;" | | style="text-align:center;background-color:;" | William Whitehouse Collins | style="text-align:right;" | 281 |- |- | rowspan=3