1904 Victorian state election


The 1904 Victorian state election was held in the Australian state of Victoria on 1 June 1904 to elect 55 of the 67 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The other 12 seats were uncontested.
Since the 1902 election, the number of seats in the Legislative Assembly was reduced from 95 to 67. The election was in one and two member districts, using first past the post voting.

Background

Ministerialists were a group of members of parliament who supported a government in office but were not bound by tight party discipline. Ministerialists represented loose pre-party groupings who held seats in state parliaments up to 1914. Such members ran for office as independents or under a variety of political labels but saw themselves as linked to other candidates by their support for a particular premier or government.
Thomas Bent was elected on 16 February 1904 leader of the Commonwealth Liberal Party, replacing Premier William Irvine who went into federal politics, and went into the election as the incumbent Premier. At the June 1904 election Bent won a comfortable majority with 35 of the 67 seats, and the Labour Party became the second largest party in the Assembly with 17 seats.

Results

Legislative Assembly