| Election Name: | 1902 Victorian state election |
| Country: | Victoria |
| Flag Year: | 1901 |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1900 Victorian colonial election |
| Previous Year: | 1900 |
| Next Election: | 1904 Victorian state election |
| Next Year: | 1904 |
| Seats For Election: | All 95 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly 48 seats needed for a majority |
| Leader1: | William Irvine |
| Color1: | 9966CC |
| Party1: | National Citizens' Reform League |
| Leaders Seat1: | Lowan |
| Seats1: | 47 seats |
| Leader2: | Alexander Peacock |
| Party2: | Liberal |
| Leaders Seat2: | Clunes and Allandale |
| Color2: | F7E894 |
| Seats2: | 15 seats |
| Premier | |
| Before Election: | William Irvine |
| Before Party: | National Citizens' Reform League |
| After Election: | William Irvine |
| After Party: | National Citizens' Reform League |
The 1902 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on 1 October 1902, to elect 70 of the 95 members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly.[1] [2] [3] [4] The other 25 seats were uncontested.[1]
There was manhood suffrage in single and multimember districts (with multiple voting), and first past the post (plurality) voting was used.[1]
William Irvine replaced Alexander Peacock as Victorian Premier on 10 June 1902, and contested the election as the incumbent premier and leader of the conservative National Citizens' Reform League. Irvine soundly defeated the Liberals, and their Labor allies led by Frederick Bromley.
This election marked the end of traditional contests between the Liberals and Conservatives in Victoria, with the Reform League made up of members from both parties.[5]
This was also the first election in Victoria after federation in 1901, when it ceased to be a colony and became a state.
47 Ministerialist MPs were elected with the backing of the Citizens' Reform League, while 11 ran solely as Ministerialists or Independent Ministerialists.[1] Liberal MPs were elected as Oppositionists.[5]
| Votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reform League Ministerialists | 71,951 | 42.07 | 47 | |||||
| Liberal Oppositionists | 30,929 | 18.09 | −32.52 | 15 | 29 | |||
| Labour | 30,804 | 18.01 | +6.73 | 12 | 3 | |||
| Independent Ministerialists | 22,997 | 13.45 | 7 | |||||
| Ministerialists | 9,028 | 5.28 | 11 | |||||
| Independent Labour | 3,202 | 1.87 | 2 | |||||
| Reform League | 2,104 | 1.23 | 1 | 1 | ||||
| Formal votes | 171,015 | 99.65 | ||||||
| Informal votes | 606 | 0.35 | ||||||
| Total | 171,621 | 95 | ||||||
| Registered voters / turnout | 290,241 | 65.41 | ||||||