1920 New South Wales state election explained

Election Name:	1920 New South Wales state election
Country:	New South Wales
Type:	parliamentary
Ongoing:	no
Previous Election:	1917 New South Wales state election
Previous Year:	1917
Next Election:	1922 New South Wales state election
Next Year:	1922
Seats For Election:	All 90 seats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 46 Assembly seats were needed for a majority
Leader1:	John Storey
Leader Since1:	February 1917
Party1:	Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch)
Leaders Seat1:	Balmain
Percentage1:	43.08%
Swing1:	0.45
Last Election1:	33 seats
Seats1:	43 seats
Seat Change1:	10
Leader2:	William Holman
Leader Since2:	15 November 1916
Party2:	Nationalist Party (Australia)
Leaders Seat2:	Cootamundra (defeated)
Percentage2:	29.92%
Swing2:	17.52
Last Election2:	52 seats
Seats2:	28 seats
Seat Change2:	24
Leader3:	George Beeby
Leader Since3:	1915
Party3:	Progressive Party (1920)
Leaders Seat3:	Murray
Percentage3:	15.12%
Swing3:	15.12
Last Election3:	0 seats
Seats3:	15 seats
Seat Change3:	15
Map Size:	400px
Premier
Before Election:	William Holman
Before Party:	Nationalist Party (Australia)
After Election:	John Storey
After Party:	Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch)

The 1920 New South Wales state election was held on 20 March 1920. The 24th parliament of New South Wales was dissolved on 18 February 1920 by the Governor, Sir Walter Edward Davidson, on the advice of the Premier William Holman.The election was for all of the 90 seats in the 25th New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and it was the first to be conducted with multi-member electorates, using the Hare-Clark single transferable vote system.

It was conducted using 24 districts, 15 having 3 members and nine having five members.

Key dates

Date	Event
18 February 1920	The Legislative Assembly was dissolved, and writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.
28 February 1920	Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon.
20 March 1920	Polling day.
12 April 1920	Storey ministry sworn in
21 April 1920	Writs returned.
27 April 1920	Opening of 25th Parliament.

See also: Results of the 1920 New South Wales state election. The assembly was evenly divided, with Labor having 43 seats and the support of Percy Brookfield and Arthur Gardiner (Independent Labor), while the Nationalists had 28 seats and the support of 15 seats of the Progressive Party and 2 independent Nationalists.^[1] The Speaker of the Legislative Assembly did not vote unless there was a tie which meant whichever side provided the speaker was unable to command a majority. Nationalist Daniel Levy controversially accepted re-election as speaker, giving Labor an effective majority.^[2]

Compared to previous election held using majority-runoff, two new parties had representation in the chamber - Progressive and Socialist Labor.^[3]

Web site: Former members of the New South Wales Parliament, 1856–2006 . New South Wales Parliament . 4 December 2019.
Election of speaker . PDF . New South Wales . Legislative Assembly . 27 April 1920 . 18 . 33 . Fitzpatrick, John . John Fitzpatrick (New South Wales politician) . 2021-11-02.
Book: Farrell and McAllister . The Australian Electoral System . 50.