A by-election for the seat of Katanning in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly was held on 31 August 1935, following the death of the sitting member, Arnold Piesse of the Country Party. Six candidates contested the election, including three endorsed Country candidates. Neither of the two other major parties, Labor and the Nationalists, fielded candidates. The campaign focused mainly on local issues, and no candidate received more than a quarter of the vote. With preferential voting in use, endorsed Country Party candidate Arthur Watts was elected over unendorsed Country Party candidate Nelson Lemmon after five rounds of counting, beginning Watts' 27-year career in the Legislative Assembly.
Background and timeline.
Arnold Edmund Piesse had been the member for Katanning, located in the Great Southern region of Western Australia, since defeating Alec Thomson at the 1930 state election. Piesse had previously held the seat, as a Ministerialist and later a Liberal, from 1909 to 1914, while his brother, Frederick Henry Piesse, had held the seat from 1904 to 1909. Although a sitting member, Piesse left Australia in February 1935 for an extended trip to England for health reasons. However, on 21 July, on the return trip, he committed suicide by jumping overboard. Following the official notification of a vacancy, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Alexander Panton, authorised the issuing of writs for a by-election, which occurred on 30 July. Both the Labor Party and the Nationalist Party declined to field candidates, owing to Katanning's reputation as a safe seat for the Country Party.
Candidates and positions.
Six candidates nominated for the vacancy, with nominations closing at noon on Monday, 12 August. The Country Party, endorsed four candidates, although one, John Francis Silverthorne of Muradup, failed to meet the deadline for nominations. Endorsements were made by the Katanning district council of the Primary Producers' Association. The three other candidates were nominally running as independents, although two were affiliated with the Country Party.
Results.
Counting for the election was completed on the night of Tuesday, 3 September.
! scope="col" colspan="2" style="width: 130px"|Party
! scope="col" style="width: 17em"|Candidate
! scope="col" style="width: 5em"|Votes
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"|%
! scope="col" style="width: 3.5em"| ;templatestyles src="Template:Tooltip/styles.css" / ;±%
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Total formal votes
! colspan="3" style="text-align:right;" | Informal votes
! colspan="3" style="text-align: right; margin-right: 0.5em" scope=row | Turnout
! colspan="6" style="text-align:left;" |Two-candidate-preferred result
Notes.
 ;templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/ ;a At the 1933 elections, endorsed Country Party candidates received a total of 71.15% of the vote on first preferences, while at the by-election endorsed Country candidates received 49.72% of the vote on first preferences, which amounts to a swing of –21.43 against the party. If independent Country and unendorsed Country candidates are included, the party received 86.92% of the first-preference vote, which alters the result to a swing of +15.77.
References.
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