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1939 Western Australian state election
Australian election
Australian election
| Field | Value | |
|---|---|---|
| election_name | 1939 Western Australian state election | |
| country | Western Australia | |
| flag_year | 1870 | |
| type | parliamentary | |
| ongoing | no | |
| previous_election | 1936 Western Australian state election | |
| previous_year | 1936 | |
| next_election | 1943 Western Australian state election | |
| next_year | 1943 | |
| seats_for_election | All 50 seats in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly | |
| election_date | 18 March 1939 | |
| image1 | [[File:John Willcock 1940 (cropped).jpg | 130px]] |
| leader1 | John Willcock | |
| leader_since1 | 20 August 1936 | |
| party1 | Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch) | |
| leaders_seat1 | Geraldton | |
| percentage1 | 45.02% | |
| swing1 | 2.63 | |
| last_election1 | 26 seats | |
| seats1 | 27 seats | |
| seat_change1 | 1 | |
| image2 | [[File:Portrait of Charles George Latham (cropped).jpg | 130px]] |
| leader2 | Charles Latham | |
| leader_since2 | 24 April 1933 | |
| party2 | Country Party (Western Australia) | |
| leaders_seat2 | York | |
| percentage2 | 12.00% | |
| swing2 | 2.60 | |
| last_election2 | 13 seats | |
| seats2 | 12 seats | |
| seat_change2 | 1 | |
| leader3 | Ross McDonald | |
| leader_since3 | 13 April 1938 | |
| party3 | Nationalist Party of Australia | |
| leaders_seat3 | West Perth | |
| percentage3 | 23.97% | |
| swing3 | 8.39 | |
| last_election3 | 8 seats | |
| seats3 | 7 seats | |
| seat_change3 | 1 | |
| title | Premier | |
| before_election | John Willcock | |
| before_party | Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch) | |
| after_election | John Willcock | |
| after_party | Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch) |
Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 18 March 1939 to elect all 50 members to the Legislative Assembly. The Labor Party, led by Premier John Willcock, won a third term in office against the Country and Nationalist parties, led by Opposition Leader Charles Latham and Robert Ross McDonald respectively.
This was the first election in Western Australia since the enactment of compulsory voting, which occurred in 1936. Western Australia was one of the last states to mandate voting.
Results
The election was notable for the lack of change to the status quo. Only one member—former Speaker Michael Troy, who had been in the Assembly continuously since 1904—opted to retire, being replaced in his seat of Mount Magnet by fellow Labor member Lucien Triat. Labor's Bill Hegney gained the seat of Pilbara from two-term Nationalist MLA Frank Welsh, whilst the Nationalist member since 1914 for North Perth, James MacCallum Smith, was defeated by independent Nationalist Arthur Abbott (who joined the party some years later).
Elsewhere, the only change was the exit of one Independent member—Clarence Doust in Nelson, who was defeated by his Nationalist predecessor John Henry Smith after one term—and the entry of another from Irwin-Moore, Claude Barker, replacing Country member Percy Ferguson.
| turnout % = 91.59% | informal % = 1.75% |votes % = 45.02% |votes % = 23.97% |votes % = 12.00% |votes % = 6.80% |votes % = 0.15% |votes % = 12.06% |}
References
Works cited
This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.
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