1953 Queensland state election Turnout 93.80 ( 1.29 pp )
Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 7 March 1953 to elect the 75 members of the state's Legislative Assembly . The Labor government was seeking its eighth continuous term in office since the 1932 election . It was the first electoral test for Vince Gair , who had become Premier of Queensland 14 months earlier after the death of Ned Hanlon .
Key dates
Date
Event
6 February 1953
The Parliament was dissolved.[ 1]
6 February 1953
Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.[ 2]
13 February 1953
Close of nominations.
7 March 1953
Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.[ 3]
16 March 1953
The Gair Ministry was reconstituted.
5 June 1953
The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
4 August 1953
Parliament was summoned for business.[ 4]
Results
The result was a considerable swing to the Labor government.
Queensland state election, 7 March 1953[ 5] Legislative Assembly
<< 1950 –1956 >>
Enrolled voters
657,349[1]
Votes cast
616,611
Turnout
93.80
+1.29
Informal votes
7,912
Informal
1.28
+0.17
Summary of votes by party
Party
Primary votes
%
Swing
Seats
Change
Labor
323,882
53.21%
+6.34
50
+ 8
Liberal
129,633
21.30%
–8.61
8
– 3
Country
114,124
18.75%
–0.50
15
– 5
NQ Labor
6,680
1.10%
–0.12
1
± 0
Social Credit
4,103
0.67%
+0.67
0
± 0
Communist
3,948
0.65%
+0.28
0
± 0
Independent Labor
824
0.13%
–0.42
0
± 0
Independent
25,505
4.19%
+2.90
1
± 0
Total
608,699
75
Popular vote
Labor
53.21%
Liberal
21.30%
Country
18.75%
NQ Labor
1.10%
Social Credit
0.67%
Communist
0.65%
Independents
4.33%
Seats
Labor
66.67%
Country
20.00%
Liberal
10.67%
NQ Labor
1.33%
Independents
1.33%
1 737,579 electors were enrolled to vote at the election; however, 11 seats (14.7% of the total) were uncontested, eight of them Labor-held seats representing 49,466 enrolled voters, as well as two Country seats representing 20,053 voters and one Liberal seat representing 10,711 voters.
Seats changing party representation
This table lists changes in party representation at the 1953 election.
Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
In addition, Labor retained the seat of Kedron , which it had won from the Liberals at the 1951 by-election .
See also
References