ID 0278
Commonwealth Parliament, House of Representatives election
Election of 9 December 1961
General election for the House of Representatives
Commonwealth of Australia
Date of election
9 December 1961
Government in office and parliamentary support before and after the election
Government in office at election
Prime Minister in office at date of election. (check notes to see if change of Prime Minister since previous election)
Prime Minister's party affiliation
Liberal Party
House of Representatives support for government at election
Coalition
If coalition, coalition partner(s)
Country Party
Government in office after election
Prime Minister's party affiliation
Liberal Party
House of Representatives support for government after election
Majority
If coalition, coalition partner(s)
Country Party
Total number of voters on the roll
5,651,561
Number of House of Representatives seats
122
Number of uncontested seats
0
If uncontested seats, number of voters on the roll in uncontested seats
0
Number of voters on the roll in contested seats
5,651,561
Total ballots cast (may differ from number of votes in
multiple voting systems)
5,384,350
Turnout (rate of voting in contested seats)
95.27%
Total valid votes
5,246,033
Rate of informal (invalid) voting
2.57%
Informal (invalid) ballots in multiple voting system
Not applicable
Electoral system
Adult franchise at 21 years; single member districts; preferential voting (AV); compulsory preferences; compulsory voting
House of Representatives votes and seats won, national summary
Display Chart
Election held on 9 December 1961
Criteria for the inclusion of parties in this table are set out in the Glossary under listed party
* to view table drag left or right.
| Party Name |
First preference vote n | First preference vote share % | Change from previous election % | Seats won n | Uncontested seats held n | Seat share % |
| Australian Labor Party | 2,512,929 | 47.9 | +5.09 | 60 | 0 | 49.18 |
| Liberal Party | 1,761,738 | 33.58 | -3.65 | 45 | 0 | 36.89 |
| Democratic Labor Party | 456,962 | 8.71 | -.7 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Country Party | 446,475 | 8.51 | -.81 | 17 | 0 | 13.93 |
| Votes for other than listed parties | 67,929 | 1.29 | 0.00 | | | |
| Totals | 5,246,033 | 100 | | 122 | 0 | 100 |
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Display Chart
Sources
Colin A Hughes and B D Graham,
A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1890-1964, Canberra; Australian National University Press, 1968 (SBN 708102700); Gerard Newman,
Federal Election Results 1949-2001, Canberra: Commonwealth Parliament, Department of the Parliamentary Library, Information and Research Services, Research Paper 9 2001-02, 2002 (ISSN 1328 7478), online
here.
Note - 104167