1908 Queensland state election

1908 Queensland state election

←  1907 5 February 1908 (1908-02-05) 1909  →
All 72 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland 37 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	78.91 ( 7.30 pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader William Kidston Robert Philp David Bowman Party Kidstonites Conservative Labour Leader since 19 January 1906 19 September 1904 15 April 1907 Leader's seat Rockhampton Townsville Fortitude Valley Last election 24 seats, 31.88% 29 seats, 40.58% 18 seats, 26.39% Seats won 25 22 22 Seat change 1 7 4 Popular vote 44,997 75,563 55,771 Percentage 24.04% 40.37% 29.80% Swing 7.84 0.21 3.41
Premier before election Robert Philp Conservative Resulting Premier William Kidston Kidston Party

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 5 February 1908 to elect the 72 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The election, held less than 9 months after the previous election, was made necessary by a series of events which had seen former premier William Kidston, who commanded a majority on the floor of the Assembly, resign following an attempt to convince the governor of Queensland to appoint sympathetic members to the Queensland Legislative Council, which had blocked key legislative measures. Following Kidston's resignation, Opposition leader Robert Philp was sent for and formed a ministry, but the ministry almost immediately lost a vote of no confidence in the Assembly, and as such, a new election had to be called.

This election used contingent voting, at least in the single-member districts. ^[1]

Five districts were two-seat districts - Mackay, Marlborough, North Brisbane, Rockhampton and South Brisbane. In the two-member constituencies, plurality block voting was used -- electors could cast two valid votes but were allowed to "plump". ^[2]

Key dates

Date	Event
12 November 1907	Premier William Kidston resigned, and Robert Philp was sent for to form a ministry.
19 November 1907	The First Kidston Ministry resigned, and the Second Philp Ministry was sworn in.
31 December 1907	The Parliament was dissolved. [3]
3 January 1908	Writs were issued by the governor to proceed with an election. [4]
15 January 1908	Close of nominations.
5 February 1908	Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
18 February 1908	The Second Philp Ministry resigned and the Second Kidston Ministry was sworn in. [5]
26 February 1908	The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
3 March 1908	Parliament resumed for business. [6]

Results

The Kidstonites contested only 32 of the 72 seats, compared to 55 at the previous election.

Queensland state election, 5 February 1908 [7] Legislative Assembly << 1907–1909 >>
Enrolled voters		175,823 [1]
Votes cast		138,747		Turnout	78.91	+7.30
Informal votes		1,466		Informal	1.06	–0.61
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Conservative	75,563	40.37	–0.21	22	– 7
	Labour	55,771	29.80	+3.41	22	+ 4
	Kidstonites	44,997	24.04	–7.84	25	+ 1
	Farmers Rep.	6,749	3.61	+3.61	2	+ 2
	Independent	4,078	2.18	+1.04	1	± 0
Total		187,158 [2]			72

¹ 205,892 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 12 seats (16.7% of the total) representing 30,069 voters were uncontested—six Labor seats, five Conservatives and one Kidston.

² In 11 electorates, voters had two votes each, so the total number of votes exceeds the total number of voters.

See also

• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1907–1908
• Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, 1908–1909
• Second Philp Ministry
• Second Kidston Ministry

References

1. Bowler, Shaun; Grofman, Bernard Norman (2000). Elections in Australia, Ireland, and Malta under the single transferable vote: reflections on an embedded institution. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. p. 40. doi:10.3998/mpub.16507. ISBN   978-0-472-02681-4. The contingent vote … was used in Queensland from 1892 to 1942 and for Democratic primary elections in the U.S. state of Alabama between 1915 and 1931. It has been used for presidential elections in Sri Lanka since 1978 and in 1996 … the United Kingdom … called it the 'supplementary vote'.
2. Hughes and Graham, "Voting for the Queensland Legislative Assembly 1890-1964" (online) accessed February 20, 2025
3. "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette . 31 December 1907. p. 89:1529.
4. "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette . 3 January 1908. p. 90:15.
5. "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette . 18 February 1908. p. 90:455–457.
6. "Untitled". Queensland Government Gazette . 20 February 1908. p. 90:467.
7. Australian Government and Politics Database. "Parliament of Queensland, Assembly election, 5 February 1908" . Retrieved 14 February 2009.