1923 Prince Edward Island general election

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1923 Prince Edward Island general election
Flag of Prince Edward Island.svg
  1919 July 24, 1923 (1923-07-24) 1927  

All 30 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island
16 seats needed for a majority
 First partySecond party
  James David Stewart.jpg John Howard Bell.jpg
Leader James D. Stewart John Howatt Bell
Party Conservative Liberal
Leader since19211915
Leader's seat 5th Kings 4th Prince (lost)
Last election5 seats, 44.8%24 seats, 53.5%
Seats won255
Seat changeIncrease2.svg20Decrease2.svg19
Popular vote27,14322,884
Percentage52.3%44.1%
SwingIncrease2.svg7.5pp Decrease2.svg9.4pp

Premier before election

John Howatt Bell
Liberal

Premier after election

James D. Stewart
Conservative

The 1923 Prince Edward Island general election was held in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island on July 24, 1923. [1]

Contents

The opposition Conservatives led by James D. Stewart gained many seats to defeat the incumbent government of Liberal Premier John Howatt Bell.

This election had a number of firsts for PEI. It was the first election in which women on the Island could vote, following legislation passed in 1921. [2]

It also featured the first organized third party in a PEI election, when local members of the Progressive Party ran four candidates in three Prince County districts and collected just over 2% of the vote.

Party Standings

PartyParty LeaderSeatsPopular Vote
1919ElectedChange#%Change
  Conservative James D. Stewart 525+2027,14352.3%+7.5%
  Liberal John Howatt Bell 245-1922,88444.1%-9.4%
  Progressive ---1,2222.4%+2.4%
  Independent 1--16771.3%-0.4%

Members Elected

The Legislature of Prince Edward Island had two levels of membership from 1893 to 1996 - Assemblymen and Councillors. This was a holdover from when the Island had a bicameral legislature, the General Assembly and the Legislative Council.

In 1893, the Legislative Council was abolished and had its membership merged with the Assembly, though the two titles remained separate and were elected by different electoral franchises. Assemblymen were elected by all eligible voters of within a district, while Councillors were only elected by landowners within a district. [3]

Kings

DistrictAssemblymanPartyCouncillorParty
1st Kings    Augustine A. MacDonald Conservative    Harry D. McLean Conservative
2nd Kings    Harvey D. McEwen Conservative    James B. McDonald Conservative
3rd Kings    Leslie Hunter Conservative    John Alexander Macdonald Conservative
4th Kings    Maynard F. McDonald Conservative    Albert P. Prowse Conservative
5th Kings    J. Howard MacDonald Conservative    James David Stewart Conservative

Queens

DistrictAssemblymanPartyCouncillorParty
1st Queens    Murdock Kennedy Conservative    Alexander McNevin Conservative
2nd Queens    John Buntain Conservative    Louis Jenkins Conservative
3rd Queens    Leonard J. Wood Conservative    J. Augustine MacDonald Conservative
4th Queens    James C. Irving Liberal    Shaw McMillan Conservative
5th Queens    W. Chester S. McLure Conservative    William J. P. MacMillan Conservative

Prince

DistrictAssemblymanPartyCouncillorParty
1st Prince    Jeremiah Blanchard Liberal    Wilfred Tanton Conservative
2nd Prince    Albert Charles Saunders Liberal    William H. Dennis Liberal
3rd Prince    Adrien Arsenault Conservative    Thomas MacNutt Conservative
4th Prince    Whitefield Bentley Conservative   
John H. Myers Conservative
5th Prince    James A. MacNeill Conservative    Creelman McArthur Liberal

Sources

  1. "Provincial General Election Results, 1923" (PDF). Elections PEI. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 25, 2015.
  2. "Women in Politics". Elections PEI.
  3. Fred Driscoll. "History and Politics of Prince Edward Island" (PDF). Canadian Parliamentary Review.

Further reading