1946 Tasmanian state election

The 1946 Tasmanian state election was held on 23 November 1946 in the Australian state of Tasmania to elect 30 members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The election used the Hare-Clark proportional representation system[1] — six members were elected from each of five electorates.

1946 Tasmanian state election

← 1941 23 November 1946 1948 →

All 30 seats to the House of Assembly
  First party Second party
 
Leader Robert Cosgrove Neil Campbell
Party Labor Liberal
Leader since 18 December 1939 February 1945
Leader's seat Denison Wilmot
Last election 20 seats 10 seats
Seats won 16 seats 12 seats
Seat change Decrease4 Increase2
Percentage 50.97% 34.25%
Swing Decrease11.63 Decrease2.33

Results of the election

Premier before election

Robert Cosgrove
Labor

Elected Premier

Robert Cosgrove
Labor

Incumbent Premier Robert Cosgrove continued to lead the Labor Party into the 1946 election. The Nationalist Party had reformed into the modern Liberal Party, and was led by Neil Campbell. This was Tasmania's first election since the end of World War II.

Labor won a majority in the election, although the party's vote was significantly reduced. Cosgrove dominated the government throughout Tasmania's post-war recovery.[2]

Results

edit
 
PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Labor65,84351.00  11.6316  4
Liberal44,15834.20  2.3312  2
Ind. Lib.[a]11,3398.78  8.781  1
Independents7,7656.01  5.181  1
Total129,105100.0030
Valid votes129,10589.91
Invalid/blank votes14,48410.09  5.09
Total votes143,589100.00
Registered voters/turnout157,75691.02  0.16
Popular vote
Labor
50.97%
Liberal
34.25%
Independents
14.79%
Seats
Labor
53.33%
Liberal
40.00%
Independents
6.67%
a Several Nationalists did not join the new Liberal Party and ran as independents. Rex Townley was elected in Denison.

Distribution of votes

edit

Primary vote by division

edit
Bass Darwin Denison Franklin Wilmot
Labor Party 57.9% 49.5% 45.3% 51.5% 51.2%
Liberal Party 31.9% 47.7% 19.4% 35.2% 36.3%
Other 10.3% 2.9% 35.4% 13.3% 12.5%

Distribution of seats

edit

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ House of Assembly Elections, Parliament of Tasmania.
  2. ^ W. A. Townsley, Cosgrove, Sir Robert (1884 - 1969), Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 13, Melbourne University Press, 1993, pp 505-507.
edit