1914 Western Australian state election

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 21 October 1914 to elect 50 members to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. The Labor party, led by Premier John Scaddan, retained government against the opposition conservative Liberal Party led by Opposition Leader Frank Wilson, though with only the barest of majorities. The election also saw the emergence of the Western Australian Country Party, which had been formed at a conference of the Farmers and Settlers Association the previous year to fight for rural interests, and won eight seats at the election.

1914 Western Australian state election

21 October 1914

All 50 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader John Scaddan Frank Wilson James Gardiner
Party Labor Liberal Country
Leader since 3 August 1910 16 September 1910 21 October 1914
Leader's seat Brown Hill-Ivanhoe Sussex Irwin
Last election 34 seats 16 seats 0 seats
Seats won 26 seats 16 seats 8 seats
Seat change 8 0 8
Percentage 42.12% 43.91% 13.98%
Swing 10.42 0.89 13.98

Premier before election

John Scaddan
Labor

Elected Premier

John Scaddan
Labor

The fragility of the Labor Party's majority was demonstrated when, a year later, Labor member Joseph Gardiner's seat was declared vacant on account of his non-attendance and a Liberal was elected in his stead, and Labor became a minority government when on 18 December 1915, Bertie Johnston resigned from the Labor Party and became an independent. On 27 July 1916, the Scaddan Ministry was defeated and Wilson became the new Premier.

Key dates

Date Event
29 September 1914 The Parliament was dissolved.[1]
30 September 1914 Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
21 October 1914 Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
4 November 1914 Polling day in the seats of Pilbara and Gascoyne.
11 November 1914 Polling day in the seats of Roebourne and Kimberley.
23 November 1914 The Scaddan Ministry was reconstituted.
3 December 1914 The new session of Parliament was convened.[2]

Results

Western Australian state election, 21 October 1914
Legislative Assembly
<< 19111917 >>

Enrolled voters 168,546[1]
Votes cast 96,605 Turnout 57.32 –17.56
Informal votes 1,127 Informal 1.17 –0.24
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 40,205 42.12 –10.42 26[1] – 8
  Liberal 41,929 43.91 –0.89 16 ± 0
  Country 13,344 13.98 +13.98 8 + 8
Total 95,478     50  

Notes:

1 The Labor Party's total of 26 seats includes 12 which were uncontested, representing 39,731 of the 214,741 enrolled voters. The Liberal and Country parties won one seat each uncontested—the Liberal member (Arthur Male, Kimberley) representing 1,663 enrolled voters, and the Country member (Alfred Piesse, Electoral district of Toodyay) representing 4,801 enrolled voters.

See also

References

  1. "Dissolution of the Legislative Assembly: Proclamation (per 1827/14)". Western Australia Government Gazette. 25 September 1914. p. 1914:4059.
  2. "Parliament summoned to meet for business: Proclamation (per 1827/14)". Western Australia Government Gazette. 20 November 1914. p. 1914:4387.
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