New South Wales state election, 1917

New South Wales state election, 1917
New South Wales
24 March 1917

All 90 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly.
  First party Second party
 
Leader William Holman John Storey
Party Nationalist Labor
Leader since 15 November 1916 February 1917
Leader's seat Cootamundra Balmain
Last election 39 seats 49 seats
Seats won 52 seats 33 seats
Seat change Increase13 Decrease16
Percentage 47.44% 43.63
Swing Increase1.17 Decrease4.00

Premier before election

William Holman
Nationalist

Elected Premier

William Holman
Nationalist

The 1917 New South Wales state election was held on 24 March 1917. This election was for all of the 90 seats in the 24th New South Wales Legislative Assembly and it was conducted in single-member constituencies with a second ballot if a majority was not achieved on the first. The 23rd parliament of New South Wales was dissolved on 21 February 1917 by the Governor, Sir Gerald Strickland, on the advice of the Premier William Holman.

Since the previous election, Premier Holman had left the Australian Labor Party with his supporters and entered into a coalition with the opposition Liberal Party, as part of the 1916 conscription dispute that split the Labor Party nationally. In early 1917 Holman's supporters merged with the Liberals to form the New South Wales branch of the Nationalist Party of Australia.

The Nationalists won a sweeping victory, scoring a 17-point swing which was magnified by the large number of former Labor MPs who followed Holman out of the party. It thus presaged the federal Nationalists' equally comprehensive victory in the federal election two months later.

Key dates

Date Event
21 February 1917 The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
3 March 1917 Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
24 March 1917 Polling day.
17 April 1917 Opening of 24th Parliament.

Results

New South Wales state election, 24 March 1917
Legislative Assembly
<< 1913 1920 >>

Enrolled voters 1,109,830
Votes cast 616,146 Turnout 61.43 -6.81
Informal votes 6,332 Informal 1.02 –1.28
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats Change
  Nationalist 292,306 47.44 +1.17 52 +13
  Labor 262,655 42.63 −4.00 33 −16
  Independent 25,528 4.14 +1.86 3 +2
  Independent Labor 20,085 3.26 +1.88 1 0
  Ind. Nationalist 15,201 2.47 +0.03 1 +1
  Ind. Socialist Labor 371 0.06 –0.19 0 0
Total 616,146     90  

References

See also