1916 Tasmanian state election

1916 Tasmanian state election

← 1913 25 March 1916 1919 →

All 30 seats to the House of Assembly
  First party Second party
 
Leader Walter Lee John Earle
Party Liberal Labor
Leader since September 1915 1906
Leader's seat Wilmot Franklin
Last election 16 seats 14 seats
Seats won 15 seats 14 seats
Seat change Decrease1 Steady0
Percentage 48.23% 48.47%
Swing Decrease4.35 Increase2.47

Results of the election

Premier before election

John Earle
Labor

Resulting Premier

Walter Lee
Liberal

The 1916 Tasmanian state election was held on Saturday, 25 March 1916 in the Australian state of Tasmania to elect 30 members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The election used the Hare-Clark proportional representation system[1] — six members were elected from each of five electorates.

Although the Liberals had won the 1913 election, a subsequent by-election had seen both parties holding 15 seats in the House of Assembly and Solomon losing government to Labor's John Earle. Earle's government had been appointed on the expectation that Earle would quickly call for a dissolution of the House of Assembly, which he refused to do, and successfully appealed to the Colonial Office.

At the election, Earle was the incumbent Premier of Tasmania and the Liberal Party was headed by Walter Lee. The Labor Party made no gains at the 1916 election. Joshua Whitsitt won as an Independent. The Liberals had no clear majority, winning 15 seats. Lee became Premier, as leader of the party with the most seats.