1953 South Australian state election
# 1953 South Australian state election

State elections were held in South Australia on 7 March 1953. All 39 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly were up for election. The incumbent Liberal and Country League led by Premier of South Australia Thomas Playford IV defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Leader of the Opposition Mick O'Halloran.

## Background

Labor won three seats, metropolitan Norwood and Prospect and rural Victoria from the LCL. The LCL won one seat, rural Murray from Labor. Neither major party contested the independent-held seat of Ridley.

The Labor opposition won 53 percent of the statewide two-party vote, but the LCL retained government with the assistance of the Playmander − an electoral malapportionment that also saw a clear majority of the statewide two-party vote won by Labor while failing to form government in 1944, 1962 and 1968.

## Results

South Australian state election, 7 March 1953 House of Assembly

<< 1950–1956 >> :

| Enrolled voters | Enrolled voters | 354,273 | | | | |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Votes cast | Votes cast | 336,592 | | Turnout | 95.01% | +1.86% |
| Informal votes | Informal votes | 9,871 | | Informal | 2.93% | –0.40% |
| Summary of votes by party |||||||
| Party | Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change |
| | Labor | 166,517 | 50.97% | +2.88% | 14 | + 2 |
| | Liberal and Country | 119,106 | 36.45% | –4.05% | 21 | – 2 |
| | Communist | 4,827 | 1.48% | +0.14% | 0 | ± 0 |
| | Independent | 36,271 | 11.10% | +1.03% | 4 | ± 0 |
| Total | Total | 326,721 | | | 39 | |
| Two-party-preferred |||||||
| | Liberal and Country | | 47.00% | –4.30% | | |
| | Labor | | 53.00% | +4.30% | | |

* The primary vote figures were from contested seats, while the state-wide two-party-preferred vote figures were estimated from all seats.
