- Western Australian state election, 1962
Elections were held in the state of
Western Australia on 31 March 1962 to elect all 50 members to the Legislative Assembly. The Liberal-Country coalition government, led by Premier SirDavid Brand , won a second term in office against the Labor Party, led by Opposition LeaderBert Hawke .The election resulted in a confirmation of the status quo, with the only apparent seat changes since the 1959 election being due to the changes of affiliation of the two Independent Liberal members.
Edward Oldfield , representing Mount Lawley, had joined the Labor Party during the previous term, whilstBill Grayden , representing South Perth, had joined the Liberal Party. Both were re-elected.Two seats changed between the Country and Liberal Parties. In Avon, the sitting member James Mann (Liberal) retired after 32 years in Parliament, and
Harry Gayfer , one of the two Country Party candidates, succeeded him in the seat. Meanwhile, in outer-metropolitan Darling Range, Liberal candidateKen Dunn defeated the sitting Country memberRay Owen . The Labor candidate (Jack Metcalfe) narrowly won the primary vote, whilst Dunn polled one vote ahead of Owen, meaning Owen was eliminated and his votes distributed between Dunn and Metcalfe. A petition was filed and the Court of Disputed Returns ordered a fresh election for 22 July 1962, which widened the gap to 15 votes.Results
Australian elections/Title row
title = Western Australian state election, 31 March 1962
house = Legislative Assembly
series = Western Australian state election
back = 1959
forward = 1965
enrolled = 319,594ref label|cont|1|1
total_votes = 297,520
turnout % = 93.09%
turnout chg = +1.05%
informal = 5,324
informal % = 1.79%
informal chg = –0.79%Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Labor
votes = 129,757
votes % = 44.41%
votes chg = –0.51%
seats = 24
seats chg = + 1Australian elections/Party summary
government = yes
party_id = Liberal
votes = 120,267
votes % = 41.16%
votes chg = +3.68%
seats = 18
seats chg = + 1Australian elections/Party summary
government = yes
party_id = Nationals
party = Country
votes = 17,339
votes % = 5.93%
votes chg = –0.61%
seats = 8
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = DLP
votes = 6,601
votes % = 2.26%
votes chg = –2.86%
seats = 0
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Nationalist
party = Ind. Lib.
votes = 4,556
votes % = 1.56%
votes chg = –2.26%
seats = 0
seats chg = – 2Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Communist
votes = 1,201
votes % = 0.41%
votes chg = –0.43%
seats = 0
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Independent
votes = 12,475
votes % = 4.27%
votes chg = +2.99%
seats = 0
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Total row
total_votes = 292,196
total_seats = 50:note label|cont|1|1 381,805 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 11 seats (22% of the total) were uncontested—4 Labor seats (two more than 1959) representing 29,773 enrolled voters, 4 Liberal seats (one less than 1959) representing 26,836 enrolled voters, and 3 Country seats (one less than 1959) representing 15,532 enrolled voters.
ee also
*
Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1959–1962
*Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1962–1965 References
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