1971 Newfoundland general election

The 1971 Newfoundland general election was held on 28 October 1971 to elect members of the 35th General Assembly of Newfoundland. It resulted in a hung parliament as, with the support of the Labrador Party's lone MHA, the Smallwood government had the support of 21 MHAs compared to 21 for the Progressive Conservative party. Smallwood ultimately resigned in January 1972 allowing Moores' Tories to form a government but the instability in the House led to the March 24, 1972 provincial election.

1971 Newfoundland general election

October 28, 1971
42 seats to the 35th General Assembly of Newfoundland 22 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party Third party   PC NLP Leader Frank Moores Joey Smallwood Tom Burgess Party Progressive Conservative Liberal New Labrador Leader since 1970 1949 1969 Leader's seat Humber West Placentia East Labrador West Last election 3 seats, 33.69% 39 seats, 61.33% New party Seats won 21 20 1 Seat change 18 19 1 Popular vote 120,655 104,523 5,595 Percentage 51.34% 44.48% 2.38% Swing 17.65pp 16.85pp n/a
Premier before election Joey Smallwood Liberal Premier after election Joey Smallwood Liberal

Results

Summary of the 1971 Newfoundland and Labrador House of Assembly election results

Political party		Party leader	Candidates	MHAs			Popular vote
				1966	1971	±	#	%	± (pp)
	Progressive Conservative	Frank Moores	42	3	21	18	120,655	51.34%	17.65
	Liberal	Joey Smallwood	42	39	20	19	104,523	44.48%	16.85
	Labrador	Tom Burgess	3	n/a	1	1	5,595	2.38%	n/a
	New Democratic	John Connors	17	0	0		3,718	1.58%	0.24
	Independent Liberal		3	0	0		407	0.17%	n/a
	Independent		1	0	0		109	0.05%	2.33
Total			108	42	42		235,007	100%

References

• "Seat Count Results in Newfoundland & Labrador Provincial Elections". Election Almanac. Election Almanac. Archived from the original on April 13, 2014. Retrieved April 9, 2014.