1950 Western Australian state election

← 1947

25 March 1950 (1950-03-25)

1953 →

All 50 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly
26 Assembly seats were needed for a majority

	First party	Second party

Leader	Ross McLarty	Frank Wise
Party	Liberal/Country coalition	Labor
Leader since	14 December 1946	31 July 1945
Leader's seat	Murray-Wellington	Gascoyne
Last election	25 seats	23 seats
Seats won	24 seats	23 seats
Seat change	1	0
Percentage	49.39%	41.85%

Premier before election

Ross McLarty
Liberal/Country coalition

Resulting Premier

Ross McLarty
Liberal/Country coalition

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 25 March 1950 to elect all 50 members to the Legislative Assembly. The Liberal-Country coalition government, led by Premier Ross McLarty, won a second term in office against the Labor Party, led by Opposition Leader Frank Wise.

The election took place after a major redistribution.

Key dates

Date	Event
8 February 1950	Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
17 February 1950	Close of nominations in the North West area.
3 March 1950	Close of nominations in all other areas.
25 March 1950	Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
6 April 1950	The McLarty–Watts Ministry was reconstituted.
14 April 1950	The writ was returned and the results formally declared.

Results

Western Australian state election, 25 March 1950 Legislative Assembly << 1947–1953 >>
Enrolled voters		247,589
Votes cast		229,298		Turnout	92.61%	+6.70%
Informal votes		4,534		Informal	1.98%	–0.07%
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	94,055	41.85%		23	± 0
	Liberal and Country	90,089	40.08%		15	+ 2
	Country	20,922	9.31%		9	– 3
	Ind. Lib.	5,059	2.25%		2	+ 1
	Communist	815	0.36%		0	± 0
	Independent	13,824	6.15%		1	± 0
Total		224,764			50

306,099 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 12 seats (24% of the total) were uncontested—6 Labor seats (9 less than 1947) representing 26,694 enrolled voters, 2 Liberal seats (the same as 1947) representing 13,278 enrolled voters, and 4 Country seats (two more than 1947) representing 18,538 enrolled voters. This change in distribution means that comparisons in vote percentages between 1947 and 1950 are largely meaningless; they have hence been omitted from the table.

References

"The Electoral Act, 1907–1949. Legislative Assembly General Elections, 1950". Western Australia Government Gazette. 8 February 1950. p. 1950:243.
"Premier's Department". Western Australia Government Gazette. 6 April 1950. p. 1950:845.

v t e Elections and referendums in Western Australia
General elections	1890 1894 1897 1901 1904 1905 1908 1911 1914 1917 1921 1924 1927 1930 1933 1936 1939 1943 1947 1950 1953 1956 1959 1962 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1993 1996 2001 2005 2008 2013 2017 2021 2025
Legislative Council elections	1894 1896 1897 1898 1900 (Apr) 1900 (Sep) 1902 1904 1906 1908 1910 1912 1914 1916 1918 1920 1922 1924 1926 1928 1930 1932 1934 1936 1938 1940 1944 1946 1948 1950 1952 1954 1956 1958 1960 1962
Local elections	1999 2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021 2023
Referendums	1900 1911 1921 1925 1933 1950 1975 1984 1992 2005 2009
See also: By-elections

Categories:

Key dates

Results

See also

References