1955 Tasmanian state election
State election in Australia
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The 1955 Tasmanian state election was held on 19 February 1955 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.
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19 February 1955
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All 30 seats to the House of Assembly | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Results of the election | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The incumbent Labor government, led by Robert Cosgrove, had been in office continuously since 1934, although had not held a majority since 1946. It was looking to win another term in minority government against the opposition Liberal Party, on this occasion led by Rex Townley.
The election resulted in a parliamentary deadlock, with both the Labor and Liberal parties winning 15 seats in the 30 seat assembly.
The 1955 election also saw the first women elected to the House of Assembly: Mabel Miller for Franklin and Amelia Best for Wilmot, both members of the Liberal Party.[2]
Background and deadlock provisions
The 1955 election was the first to be held since the passage of a 1954 amendment to the constitution in relation to political deadlocks. The amendment provided that, in the event of a deadlock in the 30-member House of Assembly, an Electoral Commission would be convened to determine a "majority party" and "minority party" on the basis of primary votes. The minority party would then have the right to nominate a member as Speaker of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, thereby giving the majority party a working majority of one MP. If the minority party did not nominate a speaker, the majority party would be entitled to nominate one of its own members as speaker and also to be awarded a supplementary member of parliament, again giving the majority party a working majority on the speaker's casting vote.[3]
Results
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| Party | Votes | % | +/– | Seats | +/– | |
| Labor | 82,362 | 52.63 | +4.00 | 15 |  | |
| Liberal | 70,959 | 45.35 | -2.23 | 15 |  1 | |
| Independents | 3,158 | 2.02 | -1.72 | 0 |  1 | |
| Total | 156,479 | 100.00 | – | 30 | – | |
| Valid votes | 156,479 | 96.21 | ||||
| Invalid/blank votes | 6,158 | 3.79 | -0.69 | |||
| Total votes | 162,637 | 100.00 | – | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 173,165 | 93.92 | -0.60 | |||
Distribution of votes
Primary vote by division
| Bass | Braddon | Denison | Franklin | Wilmot | |
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| Labor Party | 53.5% | 53.3% | 50.8% | 49.9% | 55.7% |
| Liberal Party | 46.0% | 46.7% | 42.5% | 46.5% | 44.3% |
| Other | 0.5% | — | 6.7% | 3.5% | — |