1871 Victorian colonial election

1871 Victorian colonial election

← 1868 14 February to 16 March 1871 1874 →
All 78 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly 40 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader James McCulloch Graham Berry Party Moderate Liberal Liberal Leader's seat Mornington Geelong West Seats won 20 27 Percentage 18.41 38.33
Premier before election James McCulloch Liberal Elected Premier James McCulloch Liberal

The 1871 Victorian colonial election was held from 14 February to 16 March 1871 to elect the 7th Parliament of Victoria. All 78 seats in 49 electorates in the Legislative Assembly were up for election, though six seats were uncontested.^[1]

There were 24 single-member, 21 two-member and 4 three-member electorates.^[1]

At the 1871 election the central issue put forward to electors by the Premier James McCulloch was a proposal to introduce a secular education bill.^[2][3] After the election the new Parliament was overwhelmingly liberal. An analysis of the results in The Age newspaper estimated that 49 members were "Liberals of all classes", compared to 29 "Non-Liberals", although the tally was further complicated by the Liberal grouping being split into members and supporters of James McCulloch's ministry and those deemed "Liberal Anti-Ministerialists". Even though the elected Constitutionalists were likely to support McCulloch's ministry, The Age concluded that the Liberals opposed to the government still had a majority of eight seats in the parliament.^[4]