The 1932 Manitoba general election was held on June 16, 1932, to elect Members of the Legislative Assembly of the province of Manitoba, Canada. A Liberal-Progressive majority government was elected.

This was the second election in Manitoba where two types of preferential voting was used in all electoral divisions. Winnipeg elected ten members through single transferable ballot, while all other constituencies elected one member by instant runoff voting.

The election was called soon after the announcement of an alliance between the governing Progressive Party of John Bracken and the Liberal Party led by Murdoch Mackay. These parties were ideologically similar, and had a common interest in preventing the Conservative Party from coming to power. National Liberal leader William Lyon Mackenzie King supported this alliance, out of concern that a Conservative victory would strengthen the hand of Conservative Prime Minister Richard Bennett.

Bracken tried to bring the Conservatives into his coalition, but was rebuffed by Conservative leader Fawcett Taylor. Taylor's refusal to consider a consensus government was used against him in the campaign.

The election was also contested by the social democratic Independent Labour Party, under the leadership of John Queen. Though it was the second-largest party in the legislature after the 1920 election, Labour had slumped to only three seats in 1927 amid a general period of decline in the Canadian left. While the ILP was poised to improve its showing in the 1932 campaign, it was not a serious contender for government. In the event it elected only five MLAs, four in Winnipeg and one in St. Boniface, evidence of the benefits of preferential balloting to a minority party.

Some members of the provincial Liberal Party opposed the Liberal-Progressive alliance, and contested the election as "continuing Liberals". Their leader was David Campbell, the mayor of St. Boniface.

Leslie Morris and Jacob Penner of the Communist Party campaigned in the city of Winnipeg, and other Communist candidates ran in the outlying areas. As the Communist Party was under legal restrictions at the time, they ran as "United Front Workers" candidates. Former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) George Armstrong ran as a candidate of the Socialist Party, and Jessie MacLennan campaigned as a labour candidate unaffiliated with the ILP.

The result was a resounding victory for the governing alliance, as Liberals, Progressives and their allies won 38 out of 55 seats. The Conservatives fell from fifteen seats to ten. Having lost his third consecutive election, Fawcett Taylor resigned as Conservative leader in 1933. The Independent Labour Party managed a modest recovery after its poor showing in 1927, increasing its caucus to five members. No other parties' candidates were elected, although two former Progressives were elected as independents. The Continuing Liberals fared especially poorly, and disappeared after the election.

Leslie Morris came 309 votes short of winning the tenth seat in Winnipeg. Had he won, he would have been the first Communist elected to a provincial legislature in Canada.

The new Legislature would see 15 new MLAs, ten arising from incumbents being defeated, and the other five from open seats. Of the latter, four incumbents chose not to run, and one incumbent (John H. Edmison of Brandon) had died in March 1932.

Results

+Manitoba general election (June 16, 1932) - valid for first-preference totals by ridingPartyLeaderFirst-preference votesSeats Votes % 1927 Elected Change 1927 figure is combined total of Progressive and Liberal seatsJohn Bracken97,38838.265033363Fawcett Taylor90,13535.414815105Independent LabourJohn Queen35,99214.1415352Continuing LiberalDavid Campbell6,1262.4112–––United Front Workers5,6352.214–––3,8971.5371–13,5941.412–113,5301.393–222,6931.061–––1,9540.7712111,6000.631–––9970.3911–18480.331–––1730.071––– Valid 254,562 100.00 147 55 55 – Rejected n/a Total votes cast 254,562 Registered voters/Turnout 350,476 72.6

First-preference votes by riding

RidingLPConILPCLIndInd-ConInd-FrmInd-FLInd-LPInd-PrInd-UkrLabSocUFWTotal Rural single-member ridingsArthur1,8358812,716Assiniboia1,0082,8132,3496,170Beautiful Plains2,3781,7294,107Birtle1,3151,9543,269Brandon City1,4232,6471,5748936,537Carillon2,5908043,394Cypress1,7951,5393,334Dauphin1,6681,5255783,771Deloraine2,0031,5233,526Dufferin2,5681,9664,534Emerson1,9871,7425594,288Ethelbert2,3311,6824,013Fairford1,0116771,688Fisher8453521953641,756Gilbert Plains1,6011,3122,913Gimlitwo LP candidates fielded, from both the Progressive and Liberal wings2,4098582307104,207Gladstone1,9021,1443,046Glenwood2,0201,0873,107Hamiota1,8471,2233,070Iberville8073041,4882,599Kildonan and St. Andrews2,3082,5431,3156,166Killarney1,5711,4813,052Lakeside1,9691,5223,491Lansdowne2,1931,0951893023,779La Verendrye1,5871,4733743,434Manitou2,2681,7764,044Minnedosa2,2102,3363964,942Morden and Rhineland2,8372,3905,227Morris2,5261,0773,603Mountain3,0761,1824,258Norfolk1,7731,5373,310Portage la Prairie1,0512,0163,067Roblin1,2381,8473,085Rockwood2,1141,1369974,247Rupertsland527111638Russell2,5231,2373,760St. Boniface3,2833,4833,4771,11611,359St. Clements3,2342,0461,7744127,466St. George1,6041,1042,708Ste. Rose1,9591,2033,162Springfield2,4071,0802352323,0356,989Swan River1,0341,6981,2794,011The Pas1,9151,0721733,160Turtle Mountain1,2771,3222,599Virden2,1011,6192493,969Winnipeg (multi-member riding)Winnipeg14,81827,27421,9381,8241,4352,6931,6008484,56176,991ProvincewideTotal97,38690,13535,9946,1263,8971739973,5943,5301,9542,6931,6008485,635254,562

Results by riding Incumbents are marked with *.

For Liberal and Progressive incumbents: () = Progressive MLA in previous Legislature () = Liberal MLA in previous Legislature

Seats changing hands In the single-member ridings, 13 seats changed allegiance:

Conservative to Liberal-Progressive

Cypress Dauphin Killarney Manitou Morden & Rhineland

Conservative to ILP

St. Boniface

Conservative to Independent-LP

Roblin

Liberal-Progressive to Conservative

Swan River

Liberal-Progressive to Independent-Progressive

Birtle

Liberal-Progressive to Independent-Farmer-Labour

Springfield

Independent to Conservative Brandon

Independent-Farmer to Liberal-Progressive

Ethelbert

Independent-Progressive to Independent-LP

Iberville

(Italics indicate that incumbent changed allegiance)

In Winnipeg, the seat distribution was changed as follows:

+ Winnipeg - distribution of seats (1927 vs 1922) Party 1927 1932 change43133 ILP 341Total1010

Turnover on runoff In the single-member ridings, there was only one case where the first-place candidate on first-preference votes failed to win:

! rowspan="2" colspan="2"|Party ! rowspan="2"|Candidate ! colspan="2"|First-preference votes ! colspan="3"|Maximum votes |- style="text-align:right; background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center" ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! Round ! Initial vs transfer votes mix

| style="text-align:left;" |Joseph Bernier* | 3,483 | 30.66 | 4,470 | 3 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |Independent Labour | style="text-align:left;" |Harold Lawrence | 3,477 | 30.61 | 4,954 | 3 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |L.P. Gagnon | 3,283 | 28.90 | 3,560 | 2 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |Continuing Liberal | style="text-align:left;" |David Campbell | 1,116 | 9.83 | 1,116 | 1 | style="text-align:left;" | |- | colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" |Total |11,359 |100.00 |colspan="3"|   |- | colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" |Exhausted votes |1,935 |17.03% | style="text-align:left;" |

In the second count, Lawrence received enough transfers from Campbell to lead by 82 votes. He would receive a significant share from Gagnon's transfers to finish with a lead of 484 votes. Lawrence would become the first-ever ILP MLA for the riding.

Multiple-LP candidate contests

In two ridings, two LP candidatesrespectively nominated by the party's Liberal and Progressive wingswere on the ballot.

! rowspan="2" colspan="2"|Party ! rowspan="2"|Candidate ! colspan="2"|First-preference votes ! colspan="3"|Maximum votes |- style="text-align:right; background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center" ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! Round ! Initial vs transfer votes mix () | style="text-align:left;" |Einar Jonasson | 1,340 | 31.81 | 1,704 | 4 | style="text-align:left;" | () | style="text-align:left;" |Ingimar Ingaldson* | 1,069 | 25.37 | 1,410 | 4 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |Gunnar Thorvaldson | 858 | 20.37 | 858 | 3 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |United Front Workers | style="text-align:left;" |Iwan Kapusta | 710 | 16.85 | 716 | 2 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |Continuing Liberal | style="text-align:left;" |Michael Ewanchuk | 236 | 5.60 | 236 | 1 | style="text-align:left;" | |- | colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" |Total |4,213 |100.00 |colspan="3"|   |- | colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" |Exhausted votes |1,099 |26.09% | style="text-align:left;" |

! rowspan="2" colspan="2"|Party ! rowspan="2"|Candidate ! colspan="2"|First-preference votes ! colspan="3"|Maximum votes |- style="text-align:right; background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center" ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! Round ! Initial vs transfer votes mix () | style="text-align:left;" |Ewan McPherson | 312 | 48.90 | 319 | 2 | style="text-align:left;" | () | style="text-align:left;" |Herbert G. Beresford* | 215 | 33.70 | 229 | 2 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |Capt. Evans Atkinson | 111 | 17.40 | 111 | 1 | style="text-align:left;" | |- | colspan="3" style="text-align:left;" |Total |638 |100.00 |colspan="3"|   |- | colspan="5" style="text-align:left;" |Exhausted votes |90 |14.11% | style="text-align:left;" |

McPherson had previously failed to unseat Fawcett Taylor in Portage la Prairie on Election Day, so he opted to campaign again in Rupertsland, which had been deferred to July 14. This time he was successful.

Winnipeg Winnipeg (ten members):

Valid votes: 76,991 Quota: 7000 votes

+ Winnipeg MLAs returned by party Party MLAs33 ILP 4Total10

! rowspan="2" colspan="2"|Party ! rowspan="2"|Candidate ! colspan="2"|First-preference votes ! colspan="3"|Maximum votes |- style="text-align:right; background-color:#E9E9E9; text-align:center" ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! Round ! Initial vs transfer votes mix

| style="text-align:left;" |William Sanford Evans* | 13,507 | 17.54 | 13,507 | 1 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |Independent Labour | style="text-align:left;" |John Queen* | 9,302 | 12.08 | 9,302 | 1 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |William Major* | 5,940 | 7.72 | 7,044 | 17 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |Independent Labour | style="text-align:left;" |Seymour Farmer* | 5,053 | 6.56 | 7,105 | 11 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |John Thomas Haig* | 4,432 | 5.76 | 7,019 | 5 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |John Stewart McDiarmid | 3,540 | 4.60 | 6,060 | 24 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |Huntly Ketchen | 3,530 | 4.59 | 7,486 | 22 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |United Front Workers | style="text-align:left;" |Leslie Morris | 3,455 | 4.49 | 4,959 | 24 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |Independent Labour | style="text-align:left;" |Marcus Hyman | 3,366 | 4.37 | 6,593 | 24 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |Ralph Maybank | 2,945 | 3.83 | 5,268 | 24 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |C. Andrusyshen | 2,693 | 3.50 | 2,923 | 20 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |Independent Labour | style="text-align:left;" |William Ivens* | 2,262 | 2.94 | 5,470 | 24 | style="text-align:left;" |

| style="text-align:left;" |William V. Tobias* | 1,991 | 2.59 | 2,045 | 19 | style="text-align:left;" |