Victorian state election, 1950

← 1947

13 May 1950 (1950-05-13)

1952 →

65 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly

	First party	Second party	Third party

Leader	Thomas Hollway	John Cain	John McDonald
Party	Liberal and Country	Labor	Country
Leader since	3 December 1940	18 October 1937	22 November 1945
Leader's seat	Ballarat	Northcote	Shepparton
Last election	27 seats	17 seats	20 seats
Seats before	30 seats	16 seats	16 seats
Seats won	27 seats	24 seats	13 seats
Seat change	3	8	3
Percentage	40.69%	45.29%	10.64%
Swing	3.53	4.42	4.28

Premier before election

Thomas Hollway
Liberal and Country

Elected Premier

Thomas Hollway
Liberal and Country

The 1950 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday 13 May 1950 to elect 65 members of the state's Legislative Assembly.

The previous state election in May 1947 had resulted in the Liberal–Country coalition led by Thomas Hollway winning by a substantial majority. In late 1948, Country leader and Deputy Premier John McDonald criticised Hollway over his "lack of strength" in dealing with a long-running transport strike, and his conciliatory negotiations with the transport unions. Hollway responded by sacking McDonald as his deputy and dissolving the coalition. The Country Party became the official opposition (with three seats more than Labor in the assembly). Hollway formed a minority Liberal government, convincing four Country Party assembly members (Guye, Hedditch, Hipworth and Mibus) to defect to his party, which he provocatively renamed the Liberal and Country Party.

Despite lacking a majority, Hollway's government survived for nearly a year due to the support of two Country members (Bennett and Hyland) and the casting vote of the Speaker, Sir Thomas Maltby, in vital divisions. In February 1950, the LCP voted to expel two members of the parliamentary party—Fred Edmunds and John Lechte—for disloyalty, reducing the government's members to 30. On 12 April, the Governor of Victoria, Sir Dallas Brooks, summoned McDonald and Labor leader John Cain to gain their assurance that they would not form a joint ministry. Hollway was then summoned, and agreeing that the house had become unworkable and that there was no chance of the LCP and Country Party reconciling, was granted a dissolution of the assembly.

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