1950 Tasmanian state election

The 1950 Tasmanian state election was held on 6 May 1950 in the Australian state of Tasmania to elect 30 members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The election used the Hare-Clark proportional representation system[1] — six members were elected from each of five electorates.

1950 Tasmanian state election

← 1948 6 May 1950 1955 →

All 30 seats to the House of Assembly
  First party Second party
 
Leader Robert Cosgrove Rex Townley
Party Labor Liberal
Leader since 25 February 1948 6 February 1950
Leader's seat Denison Denison
Last election 15 seats 12 seats
Seats won 15 seats 14 seats
Seat change Steady0 Increase2
Percentage 48.63% 47.57%
Swing Decrease0.75 Increase9.73

Results of the election

Premier before election

Robert Cosgrove
Labor

Elected Premier

Robert Cosgrove
Labor

Following the 1948 election, Premier Robert Cosgrove and the Labor Party remained in government with the support of independent MHA Bill Wedd. At the 1950 election, Cosgrove was seeking another term in office against the opposition Liberal Party, which had replaced Neil Campbell with Rex Townley as leader in February 1950.

At the election, Labor retained 15 seats in the House of Assembly, and the Liberals regained one seat previously held by an independent, whilst Rex Townley, formerly an Independent Liberal, retained his seat as a Liberal.

Results

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PartyVotes%+/–Seats+/–
Labor70,97648.63  0.7515 
Liberal[a]69,42947.57  9.7314  2
Independents5,4533.74  2.101  1
Communist860.06  0.060 
Total145,944100.0030
Valid votes145,94495.52
Invalid/blank votes6,8414.48  0.53
Total votes152,785100.00
Registered voters/turnout161,65094.52  2.28


Popular vote
Labor
48.63%
Liberal
47.57%
Independents
3.74%
Communist
0.06%
Seats
Labor
50.00%
Liberal
46.67%
Independents
3.33%
a Rex Townley joined the Liberal Party before the election, and had a personal vote of 3.88% in 1948 (19.97% of the Denison vote), so the actual net difference in votes between 1948 and 1950 was 5.85%.

Distribution of votes

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Primary vote by division

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Bass Darwin Denison Franklin Wilmot
Labor Party 54.2% 52.4% 46.2% 44.5% 51.2%
Liberal Party 45.8% 46.8% 44.1% 46.8% 48.8%
Other 0.9% 9.6% 8.7%

Distribution of seats

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See also

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References

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