1953 Western Australian state election

← 1950

14 February 1953

1956 →

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

	First party	Second party

Leader	Albert Hawke	Ross McLarty
Party	Labor	Liberal/Country coalition
Leader since	3 July 1951	14 December 1946
Leader's seat	Northam	Murray-Wellington
Last election	23 seats	24 seats
Seats won	26 seats	24 seats
Seat change	3	0
Percentage	49.76%	42.86%
Swing	7.92	6.53

Premier before election

Ross McLarty
Liberal/Country coalition

Elected Premier

Albert Hawke
Labor

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 14 February 1953 to elect all 50 members to the Legislative Assembly. The two-term Liberal-Country Party coalition government, led by Premier Sir Ross McLarty, was defeated by the Labor Party, led by Opposition Leader Albert Hawke.

The election was notable in that 22 of the 50 seats were not contested at the election. Only two other elections—those held in 1890 and 1894—had a greater percentage or number of uncontested seats.

Key dates

Date	Event
7 January 1953	The Legislative Council was prorogued and the Legislative Assembly was dissolved.
23 January 1953	Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
30 January 1953	Close of nominations.
14 February 1953	Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
23 February 1953	The McLarty–Watts Ministry resigned and the Hawke Ministry was sworn in.
27 February 1953	The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
6 August 1953	Parliament was summoned for business.

Results

Western Australian state election, 14 February 1953 Legislative Assembly << 1950–1956 >>
Enrolled voters		205,644
Votes cast		192,225		Turnout	93.47%	+0.86%
Informal votes		5,028		Informal	2.62%	+0.64%
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	93,157	49.76%	+7.92%	26	+ 3
	Liberal and Country	71,042	37.95%	–2.13%	15	± 0
	Country	9,196	4.91%	–4.40%	9	± 0
	Ind. Lib.	3,458	1.85%	–0.40%	0	– 2
	Communist	1,350	0.72%	+0.36%	0	± 0
	Independent	8,994	4.80%	–1.35%	0	– 1
Total		192,225			50

319,941 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 22 seats (44% of the total) were uncontested—12 Labor seats (six more than 1950) representing 65,993 enrolled voters, 3 Liberal seats (one more than 1950) representing 14,297 enrolled voters, and 7 Country seats (three more than 1950) representing 34,007 enrolled voters.

References

"Prorogation of the Legislative Council and Dissolution of the Legislative Assembly. Proclamation". Western Australia Government Gazette. 9 January 1953. p. 1953:41.
"The Electoral Act, 1907–1952. Legislative Assembly General Election, 1953". Western Australia Government Gazette. 23 January 1953. p. 1953:157.
"Parliament Summoned to Meet for Business - Proclamation". Western Australia Government Gazette. 13 May 1953. p. 1953:983.

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