As not even the Socreds expected to win the election, they now found themselves with the task of electing a leader who would become the province's new Premier. Party president Lyle Wicks called a leadership convention at which only elected MLAs could vote. The 19 newly elected Social Credit MLAs chose former BC Conservative MLA W. A. C. Bennett, one of only three Socreds with previous experience in the legislature, to lead the new government over Philip Gaglardi. Bennett had joined the Socreds only in December, doing so with the tacit support of the federal Conservative caucus. The federal Conservatives were displeased that their provincial counterparts had sat out the previous two elections so as not to embarrass their Liberal partners. Nine months into the new term, Bennett deliberately lost a confidence vote in order to force a snap general election in 1953. At this election, Social Credit won an outright majority.