1913 Alberta general election

1913 Alberta general election

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56 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta 29 seats were needed for a majority
Majority party Minority party Third party   Leader Arthur Sifton Edward Michener Charles M. O'Brien Party Liberal Conservative Socialist Leader since 1910 1910 1909 Leader's seat Vermilion Red Deer ran in Rocky Mountain (lost) Last election 36 seats, 59.3% 2 seats, 31.7% 1 seat, 2.6% Seats before 33 6 1 Seats won 39 17 0 Seat change 6 11 1 Popular vote 47,748 43,737 1,814 Percentage 49.23% 45.10% 1.87% Swing 10.1 13.4% 0.7%
Map of 1913 Provincial electoral districts
Premier before election Arthur Sifton Liberal Premier after election Arthur Sifton Liberal

The 1913 Alberta general election was held in March 1913. The writ was dropped on 25 March 1913 and election day was held 17 April 1913 to elect 56 members to the 3rd Alberta Legislature. Elections in two northern districts took place on 30 July 1913 to compensate for the remote location of the riding. The method to elect members was under the First Past the Post voting system with the exception of the Edmonton district which returned two members under a plurality block vote. The election was unusual with the writ period for the general election being a very short period of 23 days.

Premier Arthur Sifton led the Alberta Liberal Party into his first election as leader, after taking over from Alexander Rutherford. Premier Rutherford had resigned for his government's involvement in the Alberta and Great Waterways Railway Scandal but remained a sitting member. Sifton faced great criticism for calling the snap election, after ramming gerrymandered electoral boundaries through the legislature, running up the provincial debt and neglecting on promised railways. The Socialist Party carried the banner for labour- and farmer-minded voters in five constituencies; in others, Independent candidates were of distinctively leftist sentiment.

Edward Michener, the official opposition leader of the Conservative Party, ended up capitalizing on anger toward the Sifton government. He would lead the largest opposition to date in Alberta history. The Liberals would win a comfortable majority of seats despite being almost even in the popular vote. The Socialist Party vote would collapse and lose their only seat as Charles M. O'Brien went down to defeat at the hands of a Conservative.