1908 Queensland state election

1908 Queensland state election

← 1907 5 February 1908 (1908-02-05) 1909 →

All 72 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Queensland
37 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
Turnout78.91 (Increase 7.30 pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader William Kidston Robert Philp David Bowman
Party Kidstonites Conservative Labour
Leader since 19 January 1906 19 September 1904 15 April 1907
Leader's seat Rockhampton Townsville Fortitude Valley
Last election 24 seats, 31.88% 29 seats, 40.58% 18 seats, 26.39%
Seats won 25 22 22
Seat change Increase 1 Decrease 7 Increase 4
Popular vote 44,997 75,563 55,771
Percentage 24.04% 40.37% 29.80%
Swing Decrease 7.84 Decrease 0.21 Increase 3.41

Premier before election

Robert Philp
Conservative

Resulting Premier

William Kidston
Kidston Party

Elections were held in the Australian state of Queensland on 5 February 1908 to elect the 72 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The election, held less than 9 months after the previous election, was made necessary by a series of events which had seen former Premier William Kidston, who commanded a majority on the floor of the Assembly, resign following an attempt to convince the Governor of Queensland to appoint sympathetic members to the Queensland Legislative Council, which had blocked key legislative measures. Following Kidston's resignation, Opposition leader Robert Philp was sent for and formed a ministry, but the ministry almost immediately lost a vote of no confidence in the Assembly, and as such, a new election had to be called.