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1896 South Australian colonial election

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Field	Value
election_name	1896 South Australian colonial election
country	South Australia
flag_year	1876
type	parliamentary
ongoing	no
previous_election	1893 South Australian colonial election
previous_year	1893
next_election	1899 South Australian colonial election
next_year	1899
registered	137,747
turnout	66.3% ( 1.3 pp)
outgoing_members	outgoing members
elected_members	elected members
seats_for_election	All 54 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly
(28 seats needed for a majority)
election_date	25 April – 2 May 1896
image1
leader1	N/A
leader_since1	N/A
colour1	888
party1	Independent
leaders_seat1	N/A
popular_vote1	72,676
percentage1	45.2%
swing1	13.8 pp
last_election1	26 seats
seats_before1	22
seats1	24
seat_change1	2
image2
leader2	Unknown
leader_since2	N/A
colour2	080cab
party2	National Defence
leaders_seat2	N/A
popular_vote2	49,200
percentage2	30.6%
swing2	8.4 pp
last_election2	18 seats
seats_before2	22
seats2	18
seat_change2	4
image3
leader3	John McPherson
leader_since3
colour3	f00011
party3	United Labor
leaders_seat3	East Adelaide
popular_vote3	39,107
percentage3	24.3%
swing3	5.5 pp
last_election3	10 seats
seats_before3	10
seats3	12
seat_change3	2
title	Premier
before_election	Charles Kingston
after_election	Charles Kingston

(28 seats needed for a majority)

The 1896 South Australian colonial election was held between 25 April and 2 May 1896 to elect members to the 15th Parliament of South Australia. All 54 seats in the House of Assembly (the lower house, whose members were elected at the 1893 election) were up for re-election. It was the first election in Australia in which women could vote, following the passing of the Constitutional Amendment (Adult Suffrage) Act 1894 two years prior.

The election used non-compulsory plurality block voting, in which electors voted for as many candidates as they wished. Members of the House of Assembly were elected to 27 multi-member districts consisting of two seats each. Suffrage extended to all persons (including Aboriginals) over 21 years of age, unless they were "attainted or convicted of treason or felony".

Background

The period after the 1893 election saw an increasing competition between the two new political parties – the ULP and the conservative National Defence League (NDL). It also reflected a trend for the conservative members to gravitate to the NDL, and the progressive members to support Kingston, a strong advocate of progressive social policy and reform of the Legislative Council. There was no formal "Liberal" or "Kingston" party, but there was a relatively cohesive Kingston group among both independent members and candidates. The Liberal and Democratic Union would not be formed until the 1906 election.

The election was held concurrently with the first referendum in Australia.

Women's suffrage in Australia took a leap forward – enacted in 1895 and taking effect from this election, South Australia was the first in Australia and only the second in the world after New Zealand to allow women to vote, and the first in the world to allow women to stand for election. However, the first female would not be elected to the Parliament of South Australia until the 1959 election when Jessie Cooper and Joyce Steele were elected for the Liberal and Country League, and the 1965 election for Labor with Molly Byrne.

Results

Party	Votes	Seats	Votes	%	Swing (pp)	Seats	Change
		Independent	72,676	45.2	–13.8	24	2
		National Defence	49,200	30.6	+8.4	18	4
		United Labor	39,107	24.3	+5.5	12	2
Total	160,983	100.0	–	54
Informal votes	1,433	1.6	+0.3
Turnout	91,267	66.3	–1.3
Registered voters	137,747	–	–
Source: ECSA

References

"South Australian Referenda". State Electoral Office - South Australia.
"Women’s Suffrage Petition 1894: parliament.sa.gov.au".
Jaencsh, Dean. (March 2007). "History of South Australian Elections, 1857–2006, House of Assembly, Volume 1".

Info: Wikipedia Source

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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