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

New South Wales state election, 1901, held 3 July 1901
New South Wales state election, 1904, held 6 August 1904
New South Wales state election, 1907, held 10 September 1907
New South Wales state election, 1910, held 14 October 1910
New South Wales state election, 1913, held 6 December 1913
New South Wales state election, 1917, held 24 March 1917
New South Wales state election, 1920, held 20 March 1920
New South Wales state election, 1922, held 25 February 1922
New South Wales state election, 1925, held 30 May 1925
New South Wales state election, 1927, held 8 October 1927
New South Wales state election, 1930, held 25 October 1930
New South Wales state election, 1932, held 11 June 1932
New South Wales state election, 1935, held 11 May 1935
New South Wales state election, 1938, held 26 March 1938
New South Wales state election, 1941, held 10 May 1941
New South Wales state election, 1971, held 13 February 1971
New South Wales state election, 1973, held 17 November 1973
New South Wales state election, 1976, held 1 May 1976
New South Wales state election, 1978, held 7 October 1978
New South Wales state election, 1981, held 19 September 1981
New South Wales state election, 1984, held 24 March 1984
New South Wales state election, 1988, held 19 March 1988
New South Wales state election, 1991, held 25 May 1991
New South Wales state election, 1995, held 25 March 1995
New South Wales state election, 1999, held 27 March 1999
New South Wales state election, 2003, held 22 March 2003
New South Wales state election, 2007, held 24 March 2007
New South Wales state election, 2011, held 26 March 2011

By-election dates

Further information: List of New South Wales state by-elections

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
		Labor	Country Labor	Liberal	UAP	Nationalist	Progressive	Liberal Reform ^[A]	Protectionist ^[B]	Free Trade	Country/ National ^[C]	DLP	Lang Labor	Ind	Lab	Lib	UAP	Nat	Prog	LR	Prot	FTP	C/N	Other Parties

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.