1953 British Columbia general election

← 1952 June 9, 1953 1956 →
← outgoing members elected members →
48 seats of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia 25 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   CCF Leader W. A. C. Bennett Arnold Webster Party Social Credit Co-operative Commonwealth Leader since 1952 1953 Leader's seat South Okanagan Vancouver East Last election 19 18 Seats won 28 14 Seat change 9 4 First count 274,771 224,513   Percentage 37.75% 30.85%   Swing 10.55pp 0.07pp Final count 300,372 194,414   Percentage 45.54% 29.48%   Third party Fourth party   PC Leader Arthur Laing Deane Finlayson Party Liberal Progressive Conservative Leader since 1953 1952 Leader's seat Vancouver-Point Grey Ran in Oak Bay (lost) Last election 6 4 Seats won 4 1 Seat change 2 3 First count 171,671 40,780   Percentage 23.59% 5.60%   Swing 0.13pp 11.24pp Final count 154,090 7,326   Percentage 23.36% 1.11%
Premier before election W. A. C. Bennett Social Credit Premier after election W. A. C. Bennett Social Credit

The 1953 British Columbia general election was the 24th general election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on April 10, 1953, and held on June 9, 1953. The new legislature met for the first time on September 15, 1953.

The minority government formed in 1952 by the conservative Social Credit party of Premier W.A.C. Bennett lasted only nine months before new elections were called. Social Credit was re-elected with a majority in the legislature to a second term in government with almost 38% of the popular vote.

The social democratic Co-operative Commonwealth Federation formed the official opposition with the only significant opposition caucus (14 seats).

The British Columbia Liberal Party had a net loss of two of its six seats despite maintaining its 23% share of the popular vote. They lost five of the six seats they had won in 1952, but picked up three new seats.

The Progressive Conservative Party lost three of its four seats in the legislature, as its share of the popular vote fell from almost 17% to under 6%.

One seat was won by a Labour candidate.

Results

Elections to the 24th Legislative Assembly of British Columbia (1953)^[1]

Party		Leader	Candidates	First Preference Votes				Seats
				Votes	±	% FPv	±	1952	1953	±
	Social Credit League	W. A. C. Bennett	48	274,771	65,722	37.75	10.55	19	28 / 48	9
	Co-operative Commonwealth	Arnold Webster	47	224,513	12,049	30.85	0.07	18	14 / 48	4
	Liberal	Arthur Laing	48	171,761	8,528	23.59	0.13	6	4 / 48	2
	Progressive Conservative	Deane Finlayson	39	40,780	88,659	5.60	11.24	4	1 / 48	3
	Labour	Tom Uphill	1	1,601	311	0.22	0.06	1	1 / 48
	Labor-Progressive		25	7,496	4,982	1.03	0.70
	Christian Democratic		14	5,036	2,140	0.69	0.24
	Independent[a 1]		7	1,971	659	0.27	0.10
Total			229	727,839		100.00
Rejected ballots[2]				43,766	1,883
Actual voters who voted[2]				522,052	21,404	70.55%	2.02
Registered voters[2]				740,006	53,067

MLAs elected

See also

• List of British Columbia political parties
• History and use of the Single Transferable Vote

Further reading

• Electoral History of British Columbia, 1871–1986 (PDF). Elections BC. 1988. ISBN 0-7718-8677-2.