The 1879 New Zealand general election was held between 28 August and 15 September 1879 to elect a total of 88 MPs to the 7th session of the New Zealand Parliament. The Māori vote was held on 8 September. A total of 82,271 (66.5%) European voters turned out to vote, plus 14,553 Māori voters. Following the election, John Hall formed a new government. Background Formal political parties had not been established yet; this only happened after the 1890 election. The same 73 electorates were used as for the last election, which was held in 1875–76. In October 1875, Parliament passed the Representation Act 1875, which resolved to increase the size of Parliament to 88 representatives across the 73 electorates. Two of the electorates were represented by three members each ( and Dunedin. A further eleven electorates were represented by two members each (Auckland West, , Grey Valley, , , City of Nelson, , , , Wanganui and City of Wellington). The remaining 60 electorates were represented by a single member each. The election came about when George Grey's government was defeated in a no-confidence motion in July. He successfully requested a dissolution from the Governor of New Zealand, Sir Hercules Robinson. Male Māori received universal suffrage (two years before European males were granted universal suffrage). The parliamentary term was reduced from five to three years. Date The election was held between 28 August and 15 September. The date of election is defined here as the day on which the poll took place, or if there was no contest, the day of nomination. The earliest date was the nomination meeting in the electorate, where William Rolleston was declared elected unopposed. The last elections were held on 15 September, where John Studholme and Edward George Wright were elected in the and electorates, respectively. The election in the Maori electorates were held on 8 September. Candidates At the nomination meeting in the electorate on 5 September 1879, Joseph Shephard, Albert Pitt, Oswald Curtis and Acton Adams were proposed, the latter three without their knowledge or consent, presumably by opponents of George Grey who had the support of Shephard. With Pitt, Curtis and Adams all formally withdrawing from the contest, the returning officer declared Shephard elected unopposed. In 14 seats there was only one candidate. Result In the European electorates, the male population over 21 years of age was 116,008. Of those, 82,271 were