ID 0842

Commonwealth Parliament, Senate election

Election of 11 July 1987

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General election for the Senate
Commonwealth of Australia
Date of election
11 July 1987
Type of Senate election
Double Dissolution of Senate and House of Representatives

Government in office at Senate election

Prime Minister in office at date of Senate election. (check notes to Senate national summary table to see if change of Prime Minister since previous election)
Robert James Lee Hawke
Prime Minister's party affiliation
Australian Labor Party
Government majority in Senate at date of election
No
Change of government
No
Government majority in new Senate
No
If coalition, coalition partner(s)

Senate enrolment and voting

Total number of voters on the roll
10,353,213
Total ballots cast (may differ from number of votes in multiple voting systems)
9,715,440
Turnout (rate of voting in contested seats)
93.84%
Total valid votes
9,371,680
Rate of informal (invalid) voting
3.54%

Electoral composition of the Senate for this election

Total number of seats in the Senate
76
Total number of seats for each state
12
Number of seats for each territory
2
Seats to be filled at this Senate election
76
Casual vacancies/additional seats included in seats to be filled
0
Electoral System
Adult franchise at 18 years (from 1974); multimember districts; proportional representation by the single transferable vote method (STV); compulsory preferences; above the line (group ticket) voting permitted; compulsory voting

Senate votes and seats won, and seats held, national summary

Display Chart

Election held on 11 July 1987
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 nFirst preference vote share %Change from previous election %Seats won by ticket nSeats won by ticket %Seats won by party nSeats won by party %Seats held by party nSeats held by party %
Australian Labor Party  4,013,860  42.83  +.66 32  42.1132  42.11  32  42.11 
Liberal Party 1,965,180  20.97  +.38 23  30.2626  34.21  26  34.21 
Liberal Party - National Party (joint ticket) 1,289,888  13.76  +1.05 5  6.580  0.00  0  0.00 
Australian Democrats 794,107  8.47  +.85 7  9.217  9.21  7  9.21 
National Party 664,394  7.09  +1.16 5  6.587  9.21  7  9.21 
Nuclear Disarmament Party 102,480  1.09  -6.14 1  1.321  1.32  1  1.32 
Vallentine Peace Group (WA) 40,048  .43  * 1  1.321  1.32  1  1.32 
Brian Harradine Group (Tas) 31,037  .33  +.07 1  1.321  1.32  1  1.32 
Country Liberal Party (NT) 19,970  .21  -.1 1  1.321  1.32  1  1.32 
Votes for other than listed parties450,7164.81 +2.00       
Totals9,371,680  100    76  100%  76  100%  76  100% 

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Display Chart


* Party did not contest previous election or did not meet criteria for listing, or contested previous election under a different party name.

Notes

In the table above, see the Glossary distinctions between Seats won by ticket and Seats won by party, and between Seats won by party and Seats held by party.

Vallentine Peace Group (WA): The leader of the Vallentine Peace Group, Josephine Vallentine, who was elected to the Senate from Western Australia at this election, had previously been elected to the Senate from Western Australia in 1984 as a member of the Nuclear Disarmament Party, and was to be elected at the 1990 Senate election as a member of the Greens WA.

Senator Vallentine is listed in Senate records as being an Independent during her term of office from 1987 to 1990.

Note - 104080

Sources

Australian Electoral Commission, Election Statistics, Result of Count, Senate, House of Representatives, Election 1987, Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1987 (ISBN 0644072267); Colin A Hughes, A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1985-1999, Sydney: Federation Press, 2002 (ISBN 1862874344); 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 13287478).

For a general review of this election, see Ian McAllister and John Warhurst (editors), Australia Votes: The 1987 Federal Election, Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1988 (ISBN 058271224 6).

Note - 104152


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