1941 New South Wales state election

1941 New South Wales state election
	10 May 1941
	10 May 1941
All 90 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly; 46 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
	Legislative Assembly after the election
Premier before election; Alexander Mair; UAP/Country coalition	Elected Premier ; William McKell; Labor

The 1941 New South Wales state election was held on 10 May 1941. This election was for all of the 90 seats in the 33rd New South Wales Legislative Assembly and was conducted in single-member constituencies with compulsory preferential voting.

Background

The replacement of Jack Lang by William McKell as leader of the Labor Party in 1939 reunited and rejuvenated the party. A small number of Labor party members continued to support the far left wing State Labor Party (Hughes-Evans) but this had minimal impact on the election results. The party moved away from Lang's populist, inflationary policies, which were seen as extremist by many voters in the middle ground of the political spectrum. McKell also improved the party's standing in rural electorates by personally selecting locally well-known candidates.

By contrast, the internal party divisions and lack of policy direction affecting the United Australia Party (UAP) had resulted in Alexander Mair replacing Bertram Stevens as leader of the UAP and Premier in August 1939. The problems continued in the period prior to the election and throughout the course of the new parliament. These divisions were reflected federally in the forced resignation of Robert Menzies as the Prime Minister in August 1941, and the UAP disintegrated at a state level in 1943. The remnants of the UAP combined with the newly formed Commonwealth Party to form the Democratic Party in that year. Mair remained Leader of the Opposition until 10 February 1944 when he was replaced by Reginald Weaver.

The result of the election was a landslide victory for the Labor Party:

Australian Labor Party 54 seats
Independent Labor 1 seat
United Australia Party 14 seats
Independent UAP 5 seats
Country Party 12 seats
Independent 4 seats.

The Labor Party government of McKell had a majority of 18 and McKell remained Premier throughout the term of the Parliament. The Labor Party won two further seats from the Country Party at by-elections during the parliament. Jack Lang was expelled from the Labor Party in 1943, having persistently attacked the governments of McKell and Australian Prime minister John Curtin. Lang remained in parliament as the sole representative of Lang Labor.

This would be the first of NSW Labor's eight consecutive election victories.

Key dates

Date	Event
18 April 1941	The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
22 April 1941	Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
10 May 1941	Polling day.
17 June 1941	Last day for the writs to be returned and the results formally declared.
28 May 1941	Opening of 33rd Parliament.

Results

New South Wales state election, 10 May 1941 Legislative Assembly << 1938–1944 >>
Enrolled voters		1,684,781[lower-alpha 1]
Votes cast		1,389,896		Turnout	92.52	−3.27
Informal votes		35,858		Informal	2.52	−0.13
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	706,014	50.80	+15.98	54	+ 26
	United Australia	281,982	20.29	–15.57	14	–23
	Country	153,639	11.05	–2.81	12	–10
	State Labor	78,363	5.64	+5.64	0	±0
	Independent UAP	45,195	3.25	+3.25	5	+5
	Independent Labor	29,677	2.14	+2.14	1	+1
	New Social Order	8,906	0.64	+0.64	0	±0
	Independent Coalition	925	0.07	+0.07	0	±0
	Independent	85,195	6.13	–4.75	4	+3
Total		1,389,896			90

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Notes

There were 1,540,974 enrolled voters in contested electorates and 143,807 were enrolled in 7 uncontested electorates (four UAP and three Labor).[1]

References

Green, Antony. "1941 election totals". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 9 August 2019.

Nairn, Bede (1995). Jack Lang the 'Big Fella': Jack Lang and the Australian Labor Party 1891-1949. Melbourne: Melbourne University Press. ISBN 9780522843293.

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[2] There were 1,540,974 enrolled voters in contested electorates and 143,807 were enrolled in 7 uncontested electorates (four UAP and three Labor).[1]

[Green_1941-1] Green, Antony. "1941 election totals". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 9 August 2019.