1915 South Australian state election

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1915 South Australian state election
Flag of South Australia.svg
  1912 27 March 1915 (1915-03-27) 1918  

All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly
24 seats were needed for a majority
 First partySecond party
  Crawford Vaughan.jpeg Archibald Peake.jpg
Leader Crawford Vaughan Archibald Peake
Party Labor Liberal Union
Leader since19135 June 1909
Leader's seat Sturt Alexandra
Last election16 seats24 seats
Seats won26 seats20 seats
Seat changeIncrease2.svg10Decrease2.svg4
Percentage45.90%51.58%
SwingDecrease2.svg0.88Increase2.svg0.17

Premier before election

Archibald Peake
Liberal Union

Elected Premier

Crawford Vaughan
Labor

State elections were held in South Australia on 27 March 1915. All 46 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Union government led by Premier of South Australia Archibald Peake was defeated by the opposition United Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition Crawford Vaughan. Each district elected multiple members, with voters casting multiple votes.

Contents

A redistribution in 1913 was forced by the enlargement of the House of Assembly to 46 members. The state was divided into 19 electoral districts: eight 3-member, eleven 2-member. The redistribution's intention failed as it was meant to assist the Liberal Union. [1]

The United Labor Party became the South Australian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) on 14 September 1917. [2]

The National Labor Party, a splinter group of the ALP, formed in 1917 state and federally over the issue of conscription. The ALP had elected 26 of 46 Assembly members at the 1915 election, all but seven ALP MPs defected to National Labor. The ALP had 7 of 20 Council members, four defected. Seven MPs of the renamed National Party were re-elected at the 1918 election.

Results

Arrangement of the House of Assembly after the 1915 state election. South Australia House of Assembly 1915.svg
Arrangement of the House of Assembly after the 1915 state election.

South Australian state election, 27 March 1915
House of Assembly
<< 19121918 >>

Enrolled voters181,516
Votes cast136,055 Turnout 74.95%+ 3.09%
Informal votes1,441Informal1.06%– 0.29%
Summary of votes by party
PartyPrimary votes%SwingSeatsChange
  Liberal Union 171,99351.58%+ 0.17%20– 4
  Labor 153,03445.90%– 0.88%26+ 10
  Independent 8,4052.52%+ 0.71%0± 0
Total333,432  46 

See also

Notes

References