Western Australian state election, 1959

Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 21 March 1959 to elect all 50 members to the Legislative Assembly. The result was a hung parliament—the two-term Labor government, led by Premier Bert Hawke, was defeated with an average swing against it of about 7 per cent, but the Liberal-Country Party coalition, led by Opposition Leader David Brand, won exactly half of the seats, and needed the support of at least one of the two Independent Liberal members to obtain a majority in the Assembly. The situation remained precarious throughout the term—while Bill Grayden joined the Liberal Party the following year, giving the Coalition a one-seat majority, the other Independent Liberal, Edward Oldfield, joined the Labor Party.

Results

Australian elections/Title row
title = Western Australian state election, 21 March 1959
house = Legislative Assembly
series = Western Australian state election
back = 1956
forward = 1962
enrolled = 292,596ref label|cont|1|1
total_votes = 269,322
turnout % = 92.05%
turnout chg = –0.13%
informal = 6,937
informal % = 2.58%
informal chg = –0.26%Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Labor
votes = 117,861
votes % = 44.92%
votes chg = –4.78%
seats = 23
seats chg = – 6Australian elections/Party summary
government = yes
party_id = Liberal
votes = 98,335
votes % = 37.48%
votes chg = +4.34%
seats = 17
seats chg = + 6Australian elections/Party summary
government = yes
party_id = Nationals
party = Country
votes = 17,179
votes % = 6.55%
votes chg = +1.31%
seats = 8
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = DLP
votes = 13,436
votes % = 5.12%
votes chg = +5.12%
seats = 0
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Nationalist
party = Ind. Lib.
votes = 10,008
votes % = 3.81%
votes chg = –2.92%
seats = 2
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Communist
votes = 2,216
votes % = 0.84%
votes chg = +0.35%
seats = 0
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Independent
votes = 3,350
votes % = 1.28%
votes chg = –3.42%
seats = 0
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Total row
total_votes = 262,385
total_seats = 50

:note label|cont|1|1 362,629 electors were enrolled to vote at the election, but 11 seats (22% of the total) were uncontested—2 Labor seats (three less than 1956) representing 16,115 enrolled voters, 5 Liberal seats (the same as 1956) representing 33,484 enrolled voters, and 4 Country seats (two less than 1956) representing 20,434 enrolled voters.

ee also

* Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1956–1959
* Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, 1959–1962

References