1931 Tasmanian state election
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All 30 seats to the House of Assembly | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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A general election for the House of Assembly was held in the Australian state of Tasmania on 9 May 1931.
Background
The Nationalist Party had defeated Labor by one seat at the 1928 election, and John McPhee had been Premier of Tasmania since then. Joseph Lyons had retired from state politics after his 1928 defeat and had entered federal politics, and the Labor Party was now led by Albert Ogilvie.
Results
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Tasmanian state election, 9 May 1931 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enrolled voters | 118,730 | |||||
| Votes cast | 112,779 | Turnout | 94.99% | +13.10% | ||
| Informal votes | 3,885 | Informal | 3.44% | +0.20% | ||
| Summary of votes by party | ||||||
| Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
| Nationalist | 61,414 | 56.40% | +14.20% | 19 | + 4 | |
| Labor | 38,030 | 34.92% | –12.23% | 10 | – 4 | |
| Independent | 9,450 | 8.68% | –2.07% | 1 | ± 0 | |
| Total | 108,894 | 30 | ||||
Distribution of Seats
Aftermath
The Nationalist Party won the 1931 election in a landslide, with an over 22 per cent margin over Labor, and taking a nineteen seats in the House of Assembly. This was the largest victory over Labor in Tasmania since Hare-Clark elections began in 1909, and was attributed to public endorsement of McPhee's expenditure cuts over Ogilvie's expansionist policies.[1]
The high turnout of voting in the election was due to the implementation of compulsory voting clauses of the Electoral Act for the first time.[2]
See also
- Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, 1931–1934
- Candidates of the Tasmanian state election, 1931
References
- ^ R. P. Davis, McPhee, Sir John Cameron (1878 - 1952), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, Melbourne University Press, 1986, pp 355-356.
- ^ Report on General Election, 1931, Tasmanian Electoral Commission.
External links
- Assembly Election Results, 1931, Parliament of Tasmania.
- Report on General Election, 1931, Tasmanian Electoral Commission.