Having completed the initial runs of my Lower House guides it's now time to move onto the Legislative Council. But before I do there is a general matter about the Legislative Council elections that I wish to cover in its own post. For the first time in the state's history as a state (I am not sure about colonial elections) this year's Legislative Council elections are set to be held on May 1, the same day as the House of Assembly elections. While there are advantages in holding the elections on the same day, I believe this is unfair to independent candidates because of the Council's strict spending restrictions, and that for this reason the Legislative Council elections should have been moved (perhaps to May 29) and should be moved if this is still possible.
Historic cases of elections held close together
The following table shows cases where the House of Assembly and Legislative Council elections were held close together:
(Source: Parliament House website). In the early days, Legislative Council elections seem to have been held on a range of days of the week, resulting in some cases of the elections falling four days apart.
