South Australian state election, 1953

← 1950

7 March 1953 (1953-03-07)

1956 →

All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly
20 seats were needed for a majority

	First party	Second party

Leader	Thomas Playford	Mick O'Halloran
Party	Liberal and Country League	Labor
Leader since	5 November 1938	10 October 1949
Leader's seat	Gumeracha	Frome
Last election	23 seats	12 seats
Seats won	21 seats	14 seats
Seat change	2	2
Percentage	47.0%	53.0%
Swing	4.3	4.3

Premier before election

Thomas Playford
Liberal and Country League

Elected Premier

Thomas Playford
Liberal and Country League

State elections were held in South Australia on 7 March 1953. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League led by Premier of South Australia Thomas Playford IV defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition Mick O'Halloran.

Labor won three seats, metropolitan Norwood and Prospect and rural Victoria from the LCL. The LCL won one seat, rural Murray from Labor. Notably, neither major party contested the independent-held seat of Ridley.

The Labor opposition won 53 percent of the statewide two-party vote however the LCL retained government with the assistance of the Playmander − an electoral malapportionment that also saw a clear majority of the statewide two-party vote won by Labor while failing to form government in 1944, 1962 and 1968.

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