1917 New South Wales state election

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1917 New South Wales state election
Flag of New South Wales.svg
  1913 24 March 1917 (1917-03-24) 1920  

All 90 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
46 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
 First partySecond party
 
William Holman 1919.jpg
John Storey cropped.jpg
Leader William Holman John Storey
Party Nationalist Labor
Leader since15 November 1916February 1917
Leader's seat Cootamundra Balmain
Last election39 seats49 seats
Seats won5233
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 13Decrease2.svg 16
Popular vote292,306262,655
Percentage47.44%43.63%
SwingIncrease2.svg 1.17Decrease2.svg 4.00

New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1917.svg
Legislative Assembly after the election

Premier before election

William Holman
Nationalist

Subsequent Premier

William Holman
Nationalist

The 1917 New South Wales state election was held on 24 March 1917. This election was for all of the 90 seats in the 24th New South Wales Legislative Assembly and it was conducted in single-member constituencies with a second ballot if a majority was not achieved on the first. The 23rd parliament of New South Wales was dissolved on 21 February 1917 by the governor, Sir Gerald Strickland, on the advice of the premier William Holman. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Since the previous election, Premier Holman had left the Labor Party with 17 of his supporters and entered into a coalition with the opposition Liberal Party, as a result of the 1916 conscription dispute that split the Labor Party nationally. In early 1917, Holman's supporters merged with the Liberals to form the New South Wales branch of the Nationalist Party. Although the merged party was dominated by former Liberals, Holman became its leader, and thus remained premier.

The Nationalists won a sweeping victory, scoring a 13-seat swing which was magnified by the large number of former Labor MPs who followed Holman out of the party. It thus presaged the federal Nationalists' equally comprehensive victory in the federal election two months later.

Key dates

DateEvent
21 February 1917The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the governor to proceed with an election.
3 March 1917Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
24 March 1917Polling day.
17 April 1917Opening of 24th Parliament.

Results

1917 New South Wales state election [1] [4]
Legislative Assembly
<< 19131920 >>

Enrolled voters1,109,830
Votes cast616,146 Turnout 61.43-6.81
Informal votes6,332Informal1.02–1.28
Summary of votes by party
PartyPrimary votes %SwingSeatsChange
 Nationalist [a] 292,30647.44+1.1752+13
  Labor 262,65542.63−4.0033−16
  Independent 25,5284.14+1.863+2
  Independent Labor 20,0853.26+1.8810
  Ind. Nationalist 15,2012.47+0.031+1
  Ind. Socialist Labor 3710.06–0.1900
Total616,146  90 
Popular vote
Nationalist
47.44%
Labor
42.63%
Independent
4.14%
Ind. Labor
3.26%
Ind. Nationalist
2.47%
Others
0.06%
Parliamentary seats
Nationalist
52
Labor
33
Independent
3
Ind. Labor
1
Ind. Nationalist
1

Retiring members

Labor

Nationalist

See also

Notes

  1. Compared to the combined vote of Liberal Reform, Farmers and Settlers and Country Party Association at the 1913 election.

References

  1. 1 2 Green, Antony. "1917 election totals". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales . Retrieved 13 March 2020.
  2. "Part 5B alphabetical list of all electorates and Members since 1856" (PDF). NSW Parliamentary Record. Parliament of New South Wales . Retrieved 20 April 2020.
  3. "Former members of the New South Wales Parliament, 1856–2006". New South Wales Parliament. Retrieved 4 December 2019.
  4. Hughes, Colin A. (1975). Voting for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, 1890-1964. Dept. of Political Science, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University. ISBN   0708103057.