1918 Flinders by-election

1918 Flinders by-election

11 May 1918

First party Second party   ALP Candidate Stanley Bruce Gordon Holmes Party Nationalist Labor Popular vote 14,455 7,740 Percentage 64.0% 34.3% Swing 2.8pp 4.5pp

MP before election William Irvine Nationalist Elected MP Stanley Baldwin Nationalist

A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Flinders on 11 May 1918. This was triggered by the resignation of Nationalist MP Sir William Irvine to become Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria.

The Victorian Farmers' Union withdrew their candidate after extracting a promise from the Nationalist government to introduce preferential voting, although his name remained on the ballot paper. The by-election was won by Nationalist candidate and future Prime Minister Stanley Bruce.

Results

Flinders by-election, 1918

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Nationalist	Stanley Bruce	14,445	64.0	+2.8
	Labor	Gordon Holmes	7,740	34.3	−4.5
	Victorian Farmers	John Hall	382	1.7	+1.7
Total formal votes			22,567	99.1
Informal votes			203	0.9
Turnout			22,770	56.6
	Nationalist hold		Swing	+3.7