1937 Victorian Legislative Council election

Elections were held in the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday 12 June 1937 to elect 17 of the 34 members of the state's Legislative Council for six year terms. MLC were elected using preferential voting.

For the first time, voting became compulsory for elections for the Legislative Council, having been compulsory for the elections for the Legislative Assembly since 1927. However, the turnout increased from 10% to only 46%.

Results

Legislative Council

Victorian Legislative Council election, 12 June 1937[1] Legislative Council << 1934–1940 >>
Enrolled voters		449,694
Votes cast		208,925		Turnout	46.5	+36.4
Informal votes		2,480		Informal	1.2	−0.5
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held
	United Australia	107,157	51.9	+5.2	8	19
	Country	51,491	24.9	+14.5	6	9
	Labor	35,523	17.2	−0.5	3	4
	Other	12,274	5.9	−19.4	0	2
Total		206,445			17	34

Retiring Members

Herbert Keck (UAP, Bendigo) died shortly before the election; no by-election was held.

Candidates

Sitting members are shown in bold text. Successful candidates are highlighted in the relevant colour. Where there is possible confusion, an asterisk (*) is also used.

Province	Held by	Labor candidates	UAP candidates	Country candidates	Other candidates
Ballarat	UAP	Paul Jones	Edwin Bath Alfred Pittard*	A R Stewart
Bendigo	UAP			John Lienhop	R A Rankin (Ind)
Doutta Galla	Labor	Percy Clarey
East Yarra	UAP		William Edgar
Gippsland	UAP		George Davis	William MacAulay
Higinbotham	UAP		Henry Cohen James Kennedy*
Melbourne	UAP	Daniel McNamara
Melbourne North	UAP	L G H Marshall	Herbert Olney
Melbourne West	Labor	Arthur Disney	J T Gray
Monash	UAP		Sir Frank Clarke
Northern	Country		E A Norton	George Tuckett
North Eastern	Country			Percival Inchbold
North Western	Country			George Goudie
Southern	UAP		Gilbert Chandler* Russell Clarke
South Eastern	UAP		Charles Gartside	Alexander Goudie
South Western	UAP		Gordon McArthur	T Walls
Western	UAP		E C Cameron	Leonard Rodda	William Williamson (Ind)

See also

• 1937 Victorian state election