ID 0851

Commonwealth Parliament, Senate election

Election of 24 March 1990

Show only vote and seat summary details

Previous election in this series | Next election in this series
General election for the Senate
Commonwealth of Australia
Date of election
24 March 1990
Type of Senate election
Half Senate with 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
10,727,945
Total ballots cast (may differ from number of votes in multiple voting systems)
10,278,830
Turnout (rate of voting in contested seats)
95.81%
Total valid votes
9,929,765
Rate of informal (invalid) voting
3.4%

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
40
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 24 March 1990
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  3,813,547  38.41  -4.42 15  37.5015  37.50  32  42.11 
Liberal Party - National Party (joint ticket) 2,429,552  24.47  +10.71 5  12.500  0.00  0  0.00 
Liberal Party 1,445,872  14.56  -6.41 12  30.0016  40.00  28  36.84 
Australian Democrats 1,253,807  12.63  +4.16 5  12.505  12.50  8  10.53 
National Party 258,164  2.6  -4.49 1  2.502  5.00  5  6.58 
Greens 201,618  2.03  * 0  0.000  0.00  0  0.00 
Greens WA 76,381  .77  * 1  2.501  2.50  1  1.32 
Country Liberal Party (NT) 29,045  .29  +.08 1  2.501  2.50  1  1.32 
Brian Harradine Group (Tas) 0  0  -.33 0  0.000  0.00  1  1.32 
Votes for other than listed parties421,7794.25 0.00       
Totals9,929,765  100    40  100%  40  100%  76  100% 

Previous election in this series | Next election in this series


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.

Green party groupings: A number of Green party groupings fielded candidates at this Senate election under a variety of party names. The votes listed under Greens in the national summary for this Senate election are the sum of votes cast for one or more such tickets in the states and the Australian Capital Territory as shown in the state summaries for this election: the Greens in the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales; the Queensland Greens in Queensland; the Green Alliance in South Australia; the United Tasmania Group in Tasmania; and the Victorian Green Alliance in Victoria. The vote for the Greens WA is shown separately in this national summary for the Senate because this party ticket was successful in electing a senator (and see following note).

Greens WA: The Greens WA candidate elected at this Senate election from Western Australia was Josephine Vallentine who had previously been elected to the Senate from Western Australia as a member of the Nuclear Disarmament Party at the 1984 election, and as the leader of the Vallentine Peace Group at the 1987 election.

Note - 104140

Sources

Australian Electoral Commission, Statistics, Result of Count: Senate, House of Representatives Election 1990, Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1990 (ISBN 0644130563); 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 Clive Bean, Ian McAllister and John Warhurst (editors), The Greening of Australian Politics: The 1990 Federal Election, Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1990 (ISBN 0582870313).

Note - 103598


  Top