1921 Alberta general election

1921 Alberta general election

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61 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta 31 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	not available[a]
Majority party Minority party   Leader Henry Wise Wood[b] Charles Stewart Party United Farmers Liberal Leader since 1919 1917 Leader's seat Did not run Sedgewick Last election Pre-creation 34 seats, 48.1% Seats before 2 32 Seats won 38 15 Seat change 36 17 Popular vote 86,250 101,584[c] Percentage 28.9% 34.1% Swing 28.9 14.0%   Third party Fourth party   DLP Leader Holmes Jowett Albert Ewing Party Dominion Labor Conservative Leader since 1921 1921 Leader's seat Did not run Ran in Edmonton (lost) Last election 1 seat, 3.2% 19 seats, 41.8% Seats before 1 18 Seats won 4 1 Seat change 3 17 Popular vote 33,987 32,734 Percentage 11.4% 11.0% Swing 8.2% 30.8%
Premier before election Charles Stewart Liberal Premier after election Herbert Greenfield[b] United Farmers

The 1921 Alberta general election was held on July 18, 1921, to elect members to the 5th Alberta Legislative Assembly. It was one of only five times that Alberta has changed governments.

The Liberal Party, which had governed the province since its creation in 1905, led by Charles Stewart at the time of the election, was defeated by a very-new United Farmers of Alberta political party. The UFA was an agricultural lobby organization that was contesting its first general election. It had previously elected one MLA in a by-election.

Under the Block Voting system, each voter in Edmonton and Calgary could vote for up to five candidates, while Medicine Hat voters could vote for up to two candidates. All other districts remained one voter – one vote.

No party ran a full slate of candidates province-wide. The UFA ran candidates in most of the rural constituencies, and one in Edmonton. The Liberal Party ran candidates in almost all the constituencies. The Conservatives ran a bare dozen candidates, mostly in the cities. Labour mostly avoided running against UFA candidates, by running candidates in the cities and in Rocky Mountain, where it counted on coal miners' votes.

The United Farmers took most of the rural seats, doing particularly well in the heavily Protestant south of the province. A majority of the votes in the constituencies where the UFA ran candidates went to the UFA.

Labour took four seats, two in Calgary. Alex Ross, Labour MLA, was named to the UFA government cabinet, in a sort of coalition government.

The Liberals took all the seats in Edmonton, due to the block-voting system in use. This multiple-vote system also skewed the vote count.
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