1917 New South Wales state election

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]

1917 New South Wales state election

← 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 party Second party
 
Leader William Holman John Storey
Party Nationalist Labor
Leader since 15 November 1916 February 1917
Leader's seat Cootamundra Balmain
Last election 39 seats 49 seats
Seats won 52 seats 33 seats
Seat change Increase13 Decrease16
Percentage 47.44% 43.63
Swing Increase1.17 Decrease4.00

Legislative Assembly after the election

Premier before election

William Holman
Nationalist

Elected Premier

William Holman
Nationalist

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

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

Results

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

Enrolled voters 1,109,830
Votes cast 616,146 Turnout 61.43 -6.81
Informal votes 6,332 Informal 1.02 –1.28
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats Change
  Nationalist [a] 292,306 47.44 +1.17 52 +13
  Labor 262,655 42.63 −4.00 33 −16
  Independent 25,528 4.14 +1.86 3 +2
  Independent Labor 20,085 3.26 +1.88 1 0
  Ind. Nationalist 15,201 2.47 +0.03 1 +1
  Ind. Socialist Labor 371 0.06 –0.19 0 0
Total 616,146     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

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Labor

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Nationalist

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See also

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Notes

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

References

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  1. ^ a b 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.