Summary
Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 21 October 1914 to elect 50 members to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. The Labor party, led by Premier John Scaddan, retained government against the opposition conservative Liberal Party led by Opposition Leader Frank Wilson, though with only the barest of majorities. The election also saw the emergence of the Western Australian Country Party, which had been formed at a conference of the Farmers and Settlers Association the previous year to fight for rural interests, and won eight seats at the election.
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All 50 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The fragility of the Labor Party's majority was demonstrated when, a year later, Labor member Joseph Gardiner's seat was declared vacant on account of his non-attendance and a Liberal was elected in his stead, and Labor became a minority government when on 18 December 1915, Bertie Johnston resigned from the Labor Party and became an independent. On 27 July 1916, the Scaddan Ministry was defeated and Wilson became the new Premier.
Key dates edit
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 29 September 1914 | The Parliament was dissolved.[1] |
| 30 September 1914 | Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election. |
| 21 October 1914 | Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. |
| 4 November 1914 | Polling day in the seats of Pilbara and Gascoyne. |
| 11 November 1914 | Polling day in the seats of Roebourne and Kimberley. |
| 23 November 1914 | The Scaddan Ministry was reconstituted. |
| 3 December 1914 | The new session of Parliament was convened.[2] |
Results edit
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Western Australian state election, 21 October 1914 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enrolled voters | 168,546[1] | |||||
| Votes cast | 96,605 | Turnout | 57.32 | –17.56 | ||
| Informal votes | 1,127 | Informal | 1.17 | –0.24 | ||
| Summary of votes by party | ||||||
| Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
| Labor | 40,205 | 42.12 | –10.42 | 26[1] | – 8 | |
| Liberal | 41,929 | 43.91 | –0.89 | 16 | ± 0 | |
| Country | 13,344 | 13.98 | +13.98 | 8 | + 8 | |
| Total | 95,478 | 50 | ||||
Notes:
- 1 The Labor Party's total of 26 seats includes 12 which were uncontested, representing 39,731 of the 214,741 enrolled voters. The Liberal and Country parties won one seat each uncontested—the Liberal member (Arthur Male, Kimberley) representing 1,663 enrolled voters, and the Country member (Alfred Piesse, Electoral district of Toodyay) representing 4,801 enrolled voters.