Tasmanian state election, 1931

← 1928

9 May 1931

1934 →

	First party	Second party

Leader	John McPhee	Albert Ogilvie
Party	Nationalist	Labor
Leader since	July 1925	October 1929
Leader's seat	Denison	Franklin
Last election	15 seats	14 seats
Seats won	19 seats	10 seats
Seat change	4	4
Percentage	56.40%	34.92%
Swing	14.20	12.23

Premier before election

John McPhee
Nationalist

Elected Premier

John McPhee
Nationalist

The 1931 Tasmanian state election was held on 9 May 1931 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 — six members were elected from each of five electorates. For the first time, voting was compulsory, resulting in a high voter turnout.

The Nationalist Party had defeated Labor by one seat at the 1928 election, and John McPhee had been Premier of Tasmania since then. Joseph Lyons left state politics in 1929 to enter federal politics, and was succeeded by Albert Ogilvie as leader of the dispirited Labor Party. The depression struck Tasmania hard, with unemployment nearly 30%, and unions being impotent.

The Nationalist Party won the 1931 election in a landslide, with 19 seats in the House of Assembly and a margin over Labor of over 22%, the largest victory over Labor in Tasmania since Hare-Clark elections began in 1909. The win was attributed to public endorsement of McPhee's expenditure cuts over Ogilvie's expansionist policies. It has been said that Ogilvie's error was in identifying with an unpopular federal Labor government.

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