1916 Tasmanian state election

The 1916 Tasmanian state election was held on Saturday, 25 March 1916 in the Australian state of Tasmania to elect 30 members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The election used the Hare-Clark proportional representation system — six members were elected from each of five electorates.

1916 Tasmanian state election

25 March 1916
All 30 seats to the House of Assembly
First party Second party   Leader Walter Lee John Earle Party Liberal Labor Leader since September 1915 1906 Leader's seat Wilmot Franklin Last election 16 seats 14 seats Seats won 15 seats 14 seats Seat change 1 0 Percentage 48.23% 48.47% Swing 4.35 2.47
Results of the election
Premier before election John Earle Labor Resulting Premier Walter Lee Liberal

Although the Liberals had won the 1913 election, a subsequent by-election had seen both parties holding 15 seats in the House of Assembly and Solomon losing government to Labor's John Earle. Earle's government had been appointed on the expectation that Earle would quickly call for a dissolution of the House of Assembly, which he refused to do, and successfully appealed to the Colonial Office.

At the election, Earle was the incumbent Premier of Tasmania and the Liberal Party was headed by Walter Lee. The Labor Party made no gains at the 1916 election. Joshua Whitsitt won as an Independent. The Liberals had no clear majority, winning 15 seats. Lee became Premier, as leader of the party with the most seats.

Results

See also: Results of the Tasmanian state election, 1916 (House of Assembly)

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Liberal	35,939	48.23	4.35	15	1
	Labor	36,118	48.47	2.47	14	1
	Independents	2,457	3.30	1.88	1
Total		74,514	100.00	–	30	–
Valid votes		74,514	94.34
Invalid/blank votes		4,470	5.66	2.79
Total votes		78,984	100.00	–
Registered voters/turnout		107,321	73.60	6.35

Popular vote Labor   48.47% Liberal   48.23% Independents   3.30%

Seats Liberal   50.00% Labor   46.67% Independents   3.33%

Distribution of votes

Primary vote by division

	Bass	Darwin	Denison	Franklin	Wilmot
Labor Party	53.2%	50.7%	49.6%	48.2%	39.1%
Commonwealth Liberal	45.3%	38.7%	50.4%	51.8%	54.7%
Other	1.5%	10.6%	–	–	6.2%

Distribution of seats

Electorate	Seats won
Bass
Darwin
Denison
Franklin
Wilmot

	Labor
	Liberal
	Independent

See also

• Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, 1916–1919
• Candidates of the 1916 Tasmanian state election

External links

• Assembly Election Results, 1916, Parliament of Tasmania.
• Report on General Election, 1916, Tasmanian Electoral Commission, September 1916.