New South Wales colonial election, 1891

New South Wales colonial election, 1891

← 1889 17 June 1891 – 3 July 1891 1894 →
All 141 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 71 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   Leader George Dibbs Sir Henry Parkes Steering Committee of 5 Party Protectionist Free Trade Labor Leader since 17 January 1889 1886 July 1891 Leader's seat Murrumbidgee St Leonards Last election 66 seats 71 seats First election Seats won 52 seats 44 seats 35 seats Seat change 14 27 35 Percentage 36.50% 36.49% 20.62% Swing 14.87 12.14 20.62
Legislative Assembly after the election
Premier before election Sir Henry Parkes Free Trade Elected Premier George Dibbs Protectionist

Sir Henry Parkes
Free Trade

George Dibbs
Protectionist

The 1891 New South Wales colonial election was held between 17 June to 3 July 1891. This election was for all of the 141 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly and it was conducted in 35 single-member constituencies, 20 2-member constituencies, 10 3-member constituencies and nine 4-member constituencies, all with a first past the post system. Suffrage was limited to adult white males. Seven seats that were uncontested. The previous parliament of New South Wales was dissolved on 6 June 1891 by the Governor, The Earl of Jersey, on the advice of the Premier, Sir Henry Parkes.

The election saw the first appearance of the Australian Labor Party (then known as the Labour Electoral League of New South Wales), who took a significant number of votes and seats from both of the previous two major parties in the Assembly, and giving Labour the balance of power. The main political parties in New South Wales, the Protectionist Party and the Free Trade Party both lost seats to Labour, with Parkes' Free Trade government losing office to George Dibbs' Protectionists after Dibbs arranged for support for his government from Labour.

New South Wales colonial election, 3 July 1891
Legislative Assembly
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