1931 Tasmanian state election

{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}

{{Use Australian English|date=June 2020}}

{{Infobox election

| election_name = 1931 Tasmanian state election

| country = Tasmania

| type = parliamentary

| ongoing = no

| previous_election = 1928 Tasmanian state election

| previous_year = 1928

| next_election = 1934 Tasmanian state election

| next_year = 1934

| seats_for_election = All 30 seats to the House of Assembly

| election_date = 9 May 1931

| image1 = {{CSS image crop |Image = John McPhee 1930 (cropped).jpg|bSize = 135|cWidth = 130|cHeight = 170|oTop = 5|oLeft = 0|Location = center}}

| leader1 = John McPhee

| leader_since1 = July 1925

| party1 = Nationalist Party (Australia)

| leaders_seat1 = Denison

| last_election1 = 15 seats

| seats1 = 19 seats

| seat_change1 = {{increase}}4

| percentage1 = 56.40%

| swing1 = {{increase}}14.20

| image2 = {{CSS image crop |Image = Albert Ogilvie 1935 (cropped).jpg|bSize = 135|cWidth = 130|cHeight = 170|oTop = 5|oLeft = 3|Location = center}}

| leader2 = Albert Ogilvie

| leader_since2 = October 1929

| party2 = Australian Labor Party (Tasmanian Branch)

| leaders_seat2 = Franklin

| last_election2 = 14 seats

| seats2 = 10 seats

| seat_change2 = {{decrease}}4

| percentage2 = 34.92%

| swing2 = {{decrease}}12.23

| map_image = 1931 Tasmanian state election.svg

| map_size = 350px

| map_caption = Results of the election

| title = Premier

| before_election = John McPhee

| before_party = Nationalist Party (Australia)

| after_election = John McPhee

| after_party = Nationalist Party (Australia)

}}

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[http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/tpl/Backg/HAElections.htm House of Assembly Elections], Parliament of Tasmania. — six members were elected from each of five electorates. For the first time, voting was compulsory, resulting in a high voter turnout.[http://www.electoral.tas.gov.au/pages/ElectoralInformation/Election%20Reports/1931.pdf Report on General Election, 1931] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720183514/http://www.electoral.tas.gov.au/pages/ElectoralInformation/Election%20Reports/1931.pdf |date=2008-07-20 }}, Tasmanian Electoral Commission.

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 had struck Tasmania hard with unemployment nearly 30% and unions 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 more than 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.R. P. Davis, [http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100347b.htm McPhee, Sir John Cameron (1878 - 1952)], Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 10, Melbourne University Press, 1986, pp 355-356. It has been said that Ogilvie's error was in identifying with an unpopular federal Labor government.

Despite the scale of the Nationalist victory, the non-Labor forces in Tasmania did not win another election until 1969.