1917 Victorian state election
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all 65 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1917 Victorian state election was held in the
Background
By 1917,
The
The breaking point for the Nationalist government was Premier Alexander Peacock's decision to increase rail fares to rural areas. The party split into a pro-Peacock Ministerialist faction (mostly composed of city-based members), and an opposition faction led by John Bowser, composed mostly of country members. The two factions ran candidates against each other in most Nationalist seats. This did not effectively split the vote, as Victoria had introduced compulsory preferential voting for this election, and most of the preferences resulting from multiple Nationalist candidates were kept within the party. After the election, on 29 November, the rural faction of the Nationalist government led by Bowser won control of the party, ousting Peacock.
Results
Fourteen seats were uncontested at this election, and were retained by the incumbent parties:
- Nationalist (7): Ballarat West, Castlemaine and Maldon, Gippsland West, Gunbower, Hawthorn, Lowan, Wangaratta
- Labor (6): Abbotsford, Carlton, Collingwood, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Richmond
- National Labor (1): Gippsland North
Party | Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | ||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nationalist | 172,837 | 49.95 | +49.95 | 30 | ![]() | ||
Labor | 111,637 | 32.29 | –7.29 | 24 | ![]() | ||
Ministerialist | 24,199 | 7.03 | –49.86 | 9 | ![]() | ||
Victorian Farmers | 21,183 | 6.13 | +6.13 | 4 | ![]() | ||
National Labor | 7,747 | 2.24 | +2.24 | 4 | ![]() | ||
Independent Labor | 3,100 | 0.90 | +0.90 | 0 | ![]() | ||
Temperance | 2,097 | 0.61 | +0.61 | 0 | ![]() | ||
Progressive Farmers | 1,972 | 0.57 | +0.57 | 0 | ![]() | ||
Independent Nationalist | 908 | 0.26 | +0.26 | 0 | ![]() | ||
Progressive Labor | 74 | 0.02 | +0.02 | 0 | ![]() | ||
Formal votes | 343,657 | 96.85 | |||||
Informal votes | 11,245 | 3.15 | +0.88 | ||||
Total | 354,902 | 100.00 | 65 | ||||
Registered voters / turnout | 658,488 | 54.21 | +0.29 |
Aftermath
As the Bowser faction had won the most seats within the Nationalist party factions, Alexander Peacock resigned as Premier and John Bowser took his place. The previous government's increase on rail fares was reversed, but the issue of how the railways were to be financed remained unresolved. The opposition parties defeated a railway estimates bill in March 1918, and Bowser resigned as Premier in response, having little taste for the office. Bowser then eventually left the Nationalist party for the Victorian Farmers' Union. Peacock supporter Harry Lawson became Premier, after which the factions reunited and formed majority government with 40 of the 65 seats.
See also
- Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, 1917–1920
- Candidates of the 1917 Victorian state election
References
- ISBN 0708102700).
- ^ "THE TWENTY-FIFTH PARLIAMENT ELECTED 15 NOVEMBER 1917". Psephos: Adam Carr's Electoral Archive.