1923 Prince Edward Island general election

The 1923 Prince Edward Island general election was held in the Canadian province of Prince Edward Island on July 24, 1923.^[1]

1923 Prince Edward Island general election

← 1919 July 24, 1923 (1923-07-24) 1927 →
← outgoing members members →
All 30 seats in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island 16 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader James D. Stewart John Howatt Bell Party Conservative Liberal Leader since 1921 1915 Leader's seat 5th Kings 4th Prince (lost) Last election 5 seats, 44.8% 24 seats, 53.5% Seats won 25 5 Seat change 20 19 Popular vote 27,143 22,884 Percentage 52.3% 44.1% Swing 7.5pp 9.4pp
Premier before election John Howatt Bell Liberal Premier after election James D. Stewart Conservative

The opposition Conservatives led by James D. Stewart gained many seats to defeat the incumbent government of Liberal Premier John Howatt Bell.

This election had a number of firsts for PEI. It was the first election in which women on the Island could vote, following legislation passed in 1921.^[2]

It also featured the first organized third party in a PEI election, when local members of the Progressive Party ran four candidates in three Prince County districts and collected just over 2% of the vote.

Party Standings

Party		Party Leader	Seats			Popular Vote
			1919	Elected	Change	#	%	Change
	Conservative	James D. Stewart	5	25	+20	27,143	52.3%	+7.5%
	Liberal	John Howatt Bell	24	5	-19	22,884	44.1%	-9.4%
	Progressive		-	-	-	1,222	2.4%	+2.4%
	Independent		1	-	-1	677	1.3%	-0.4%

Members Elected

The Legislature of Prince Edward Island had two levels of membership from 1893 to 1996 - Assemblymen and Councillors. This was a holdover from when the Island had a bicameral legislature, the General Assembly and the Legislative Council.

In 1893, the Legislative Council was abolished and had its membership merged with the Assembly, though the two titles remained separate and were elected by different electoral franchises. Assemblymen were elected by all eligible voters of within a district, while Councillors were only elected by landowners within a district.^[3]

Kings

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Kings		Augustine A. MacDonald	Conservative		Harry D. McLean	Conservative
2nd Kings		Harvey D. McEwen	Conservative		James B. McDonald	Conservative
3rd Kings		Leslie Hunter	Conservative		John Alexander Macdonald	Conservative
4th Kings		Maynard F. McDonald	Conservative		Albert P. Prowse	Conservative
5th Kings		J. Howard MacDonald	Conservative		James David Stewart	Conservative

Queens

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Queens		Murdock Kennedy	Conservative		Alexander McNevin	Conservative
2nd Queens		John Buntain	Conservative		Louis Jenkins	Conservative
3rd Queens		Leonard J. Wood	Conservative		J. Augustine MacDonald	Conservative
4th Queens		James C. Irving	Liberal		Shaw McMillan	Conservative
5th Queens		W. Chester S. McLure	Conservative		William J. P. MacMillan	Conservative

Prince

District	Assemblyman		Party	Councillor		Party
1st Prince		Jeremiah Blanchard	Liberal		Wilfred Tanton	Conservative
2nd Prince		Albert Charles Saunders	Liberal		William H. Dennis	Liberal
3rd Prince		Adrien Arsenault	Conservative		Thomas MacNutt	Conservative
4th Prince		Whitefield Bentley	Conservative		John H. Myers	Conservative
5th Prince		James A. MacNeill	Conservative		Creelman McArthur	Liberal