South Australian state election, 1962

← 1959

3 March 1962 (1962-03-03)

1965 →

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

	First party	Second party

Leader	Thomas Playford	Frank Walsh
Party	Liberal and Country League	Labor
Leader since	5 November 1938	1960
Leader's seat	Gumeracha	Edwardstown
Last election	20 seats	17 seats
Seats won	20 seats	19 seats
Seat change	0	2
Percentage	45.7%	54.3%
Swing	4.6	4.6

Premier before election

Thomas Playford
Liberal and Country League

Resulting Premier

Thomas Playford
Liberal and Country League

State elections were held in South Australia on 3 March 1962. 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 Frank Walsh.

Independents: Tom Stott, Percy Quirke

The Playford government, in power since 1938, went into the 1962 elections in a precarious position. At the time the writs were issued, South Australia was dogged by a massive recession. This led observers to think that Labor would finally have a chance at power. Longtime opposition leader Mick O'Halloran had died suddenly in 1960, and Labor was led into the election by former deputy leader Frank Walsh.

The Labor opposition won in excess of 54 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, 1953 and 1968.

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