1953 British Columbia general election
The British Columbia general election of 1953 was the 24th general election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on April 10, 1953, and held on June 9, 1953. The new legislature met for the first time on September 15, 1953.
The minority government formed in 1952 by the conservative Social Credit of Premier W.A.C. Bennett lasted only nine months before new elections were called. Social Credit was re-elected with a majority in the legislature to a second term in government with almost 38% of the popular vote.
The social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation formed the official opposition with the only significant opposition caucus (14 seats).
The British Columbia Liberal Party lost two of its six seats despite maintaining its 23% share of the popular vote.
The Progressive Conservative Party lost three of its four seats in the legislature, as its share of the popular vote fell from almost 17% to under 6%.
One seat was won by a Labour candidate.
Results
| Party | Party leader | # of candidates |
Seats | Popular vote | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | Elected | % Change | First count | % | Change | Final count | % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Social Credit | W.A.C. Bennett | 48 | 19 | 28 | +47.4% | 274,771 | 37.75% | +10.55% | 300,372 | 45.54% | CCF | Arnold Webster | 47 | 18 | 14 | -22.2% | 224,513 | 30.85% | +0.07% | 194,414 | 29.48% | ||||||||||||
| Liberal | Arthur Laing | 48 | 6 | 4 | -33.3% | 171,671 | 23.59% | +0.13% | 154,090 | 23.36%
Template:Canadian politics/party colours/Progressive Conservatives/row |
Progressive Conservative | Deane Finlayson | 39 | 4 | 1 | -75.0% | 40,780 | 5.60% | -11.24% | 7,326 | 1.11% | Labour | Tom Uphill | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | 1,601 | 0.22% | +0.06% | 1,793 | 0.27% | |
| Labor-Progressive | 25 | - | - | - | 7,496 | 1.03% | +0.70% | 816 | 0.12% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Christian Democratic | 14 | - | - | - | 5,036 | 0.69% | -0.24% | 752 | 0.12% | Independents | 6 | - | - | - | 1,951 | 0.27% | 0.10% | - | - | People's | 1 | * | - | * | 20 | x | * | - | - | ||||
| Total | 229 | 48 | 48 | - | 727,839 | 100% | - | 659,563 | 100% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Source: Elections BC | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Notes:
* Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.
x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote.