List of New South Wales legislative elections

This article provides a summary of results for elections to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, the lower house in New South Wales's bicameral state legislative body, the Parliament of New South Wales, which came into being in 1856 when New South Wales achieved responsible government. New South Wales politics were initially non-partisan, with individual Members of Parliament choosing to align either with the Government or the Opposition. This changed at the 1887 election where, for the first time, candidates were members of official political parties. The first two major parties to form were the Free Trade Party and the Protectionist Party. The 1887 election saw the 79 members of the Free Trade Party elected form the government with the 37 elected Protectionist Party members form the opposition. The next election saw the Free Trade Party retain government but with a reduced majority. The 1891 saw the Australian Labor Party for the first time. These three parties then fought out the next two elections through to 1898. After Federation in 1901, the Free Trade Party changed their name to the Liberal Reform Party with the Protectionists becoming the Progressive Party.

The 1904 election saw a massive defeat of the Progressive government and for the first time Labor became the major opposition party. Most of the Progressive members stood as the Liberals at the next election and the party folded not long after that. Labor won an outright majority for the first time at the 1910 election and increased it further in 1913. The Liberal Reform Party became the Nationalist Party of Australia in 1917 and Labor's main opposition through to 1932 when the conservatives became the United Australia Party and then the Liberal Party of Australia in 1945.

General election dates

By-election dates

Summary of results

The table below shows the total number of seats won by the major political parties at each election. The totals of the winning party or coalition are shown in bold, while other parties in government are shown in bold italic. Full details on any election are linked via the year of the election at the start of the row.


Year Total seats Labor Country Labor Liberal UAP Nationalist Progressive Liberal Reform [A] Protectionist [B] Free Trade Country/ National [C] DLP Lang Labor Independent Other Parties
Ind Lab Lib UAP Nat Prog LR Prot FTP C/N
2011 93 20 51 18 3 1 Greens
2007 93 50 2 22 13 6
2003 93 52 3 20 12 6
1999 93 55 20 13 5
1995 99 50 29 17 3
1991 99 46 32 17 4
1988 109 43 39 20 7
1984 99 58 22 15 4
1981 98 69 14 14 2
1978 99 63 18 17 1
1976 99 50 30 18 1
1973 99 44 34 18 1 2
1971 96 45 32 17 2
1968 94 39 36 17 2
1965 94 45 31 16 1 1
1962 94 54 25 14 1
1959 94 46 29 17 2
1956 94 50 27 15 1 1
1953 94 57 22 14 1
1950 94 46 29 17 2
1947 90 52 19 15 2 2
1944 90 56 12 10 2 5 4 1
1941 90 54 14 12 4 1 5
1938 90 28 37 22 1 2 Heffron Lab.
1935 90 29 38 23
1932 90 24 43 23
1930 90 55 23 12
1927 90 40 33 13 2 2
1925 90 46 32 9 1 1 1 Protestant Lab.
1922 90 36 41 9 2 1
1
Ind. Coalitionist
Democratic
1920 90 43 28 15 1 2 1 Socialist Lab
1917 90 33 52 3 1 1
1913 90 49 28 11 1 1
1910 90 46 37 1 6
1907 90 32 5 45 4 4
1904 90 25 16 45 2 2
1901 125 24 42 37 12 4 2 4
1898 125 19 52 45 4 4 1
1895 125 18 42 58 1 2 4
1894 125 15 37 50 8 4 11
1891 141 35 52 44 1 1 4 4
1889 137 66 71
1887 124 37 79 4 4

Notes

A At the 1913 election they dropped "and Reform" from their name and were known as simply as the Liberal Party.
B At the 1898 election they were known as the National Federal Party.
C Includes results for the Farmers and Settlers Association and the Country Party Association at the 1913 election as well for the second Progressive Party at the 1920, 1922 and 1925 elections. First contested as the Country Party at the 1927 election. At the 1981 election they were known as the National Country Party. From 1984 election onwards they been contesting as the National Party.