The Executive Country Party was a splinter group from the

Western Australian Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

branch of the Country Party of Australia that was active in the mid-1920s. It was led by the state deputy leader of the Country Party,

Alec Thomson Alexander Thomson (9 March 1873 – 18 November 1953), known as Alec Thomson, was an Australian politician, and a member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1914 until 1930 representing the seat of Katanning, and a member of t ...

. The members of the Executive faction wanted better representation of the Primary Producers' Association by the party, while the remainder (known as the Majority Country Party) chose to primarily support the

Nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

coalition led by then

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

James Mitchell. In 1923, three members of the 16-member Country Party split to form the ECP. The Executive Country Party contested the 1924 Western Australian elections, winning six seats in total. The Majority Country Party meanwhile was reduced from 13 to seven seats, and the Nationalist Coalition was defeated by the

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

opposition, led by

Philip Collier Philip Collier (21 April 1873 – 18 October 1948) was an Australian politician who served as the 14th Premier of Western Australia from 1924 to 1930 and from 1933 to 1936. He was leader of the Labor Party from 1917 to 1936, and is Western Aus ...

. Following that defeat, the Majority Country Party amalgamated with the Nationalists to form the United Party of Western Australia, and the ECP renamed itself the Country Party of Western Australia. They returned to government at the 1930 election, supporting James Mitchell's second government in a renewed coalition.

References

{{Authority control Defunct political parties in Western Australia National Party of Australia Political parties with year of establishment missing Political parties with year of disestablishment missing