1969 Tasmanian state election

1969 Tasmanian state election

10 May 1969
All 35 seats to the House of Assembly
First party Second party Third party   Leader Eric Reece Angus Bethune Kevin Lyons Party Labor Liberal Centre Leader since 26 August 1958 19 March 1960 1969 Leader's seat Braddon Wilmot Braddon Last election 19 seats 16 seats 0 seats Seats won 17 17 1 seats Seat change 2 1 1 Popular vote 90,278 83,261 8,160 Percentage 47.68% 43.98% 4.31% Swing 3.64 5.49 0.94
Results of the election
Premier before election Eric Reece Labor Resulting Premier Angus Bethune Liberal

The 1969 Tasmanian state election was held on 10 May 1969 in the Australian state of Tasmania to elect 35 members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly. The election used the Hare-Clark proportional representation system — seven members were elected from each of five electorates.

The incumbent Labor Party, which had been in power continuously since 1934, was led by Eric Reece, who had been premier of Tasmania since 1958. The opposition Liberal Party was led by Angus Bethune.

The election resulted in a hung parliament, with the Labor and Liberal parties on 17 seats each (out of 35). The balance of power was held by Kevin Lyons, a former Liberal who had quit the party in 1966 after a dispute over preselection and formed the Centre Party. Lyons approached Bethune with an offer for a coalition government with himself as Deputy Premier. Bethune agreed, allowing him to form government by one seat—thus consigning Labor to opposition for the first time in 35 years.

Results

Main article: Results of the Tasmanian state election, 1969

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Labor	90,278	47.68	3.64	17	2
	Liberal	83,261	43.98	5.49	17	1
	Centre Party[a]	8,160	4.31	0.94	1	1
	Independents	4,366	2.31	0.79	0
	Democratic Labor	3,258	1.72	0.07	0
Total		189,323	100.00	–	35	–
Valid votes		189,323	95.34
Invalid/blank votes		9,248	4.66	0.34
Total votes		198,571	100.00	–
Registered voters/turnout		210,268	94.44	0.99

Popular vote Labor   47.68% Liberal   43.98% Centre Party   4.31% Labor (Anti-Communist)   1.72% Independents   2.31%

Seats Labor   48.57% Liberal   48.57% Centre Party   2.89%

^a The Centre Party was composed out of the former Country Party in Tasmania, and was supported by federal Country MHRs.

Distribution of votes

Primary vote by division

	Bass	Braddon	Denison	Franklin	Wilmot
Labor Party	42.4%	53.7%	43.7%	52.1%	46.5%
Liberal Party	46.2%	34.4%	47.4%	44.2%	48.0%
Other	11.5%	11.9%	8.9%	3.7%	5.5%

Distribution of seats

Electorate	Seats won
Bass
Braddon
Denison
Franklin
Wilmot

	Labor
	Liberal
	Centre

Aftermath

The Liberal-Centre coalition lasted for one term, with Lyons dissolving the partnership in 1972. The resulting instability triggered an election, which was easily won by Eric Reece and the Labor Party.

See also

• Members of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, 1969–1972
• Candidates of the 1969 Tasmanian state election

References

• "House of Assembly Election Results 10 May 1969". Tasmanian Parliamentary Library.