Australian Politics and Elections Archive 1856-2018

ID 0580

Commonwealth Parliament, Senate election

Election of 3 October 1998

Show only vote and seat summary details

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General election for the Senate

Commonwealth of Australia

Date of election

3 October 1998

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)

John Winston Howard

Prime Minister's party affiliation

Liberal Party

Government majority in Senate at date of election

Change of government

Government majority in new Senate

If coalition, coalition partner(s)

National Party

Senate enrolment and voting

Total number of voters on the roll

12,154,050

Total ballots cast (may differ from number of votes in multiple voting systems)

11,587,365

Turnout (rate of voting in contested seats)

95.34%

Total valid votes

11,211,903

Rate of informal (invalid) voting

3.24%

Electoral composition of the Senate for this election

Total number of seats in the Senate

Total number of seats for each state

Number of seats for each territory

Seats to be filled at this Senate election

Casual vacancies/additional seats included in seats to be filled

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 3 October 1998
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 by ticket n	Seats won by ticket %	Seats won by party n	Seats won by party %	Seats held by party n	Seats held by party %
Australian Labor Party	4,182,963	37.31	+1.16	17	42.50	17	42.50	29	38.16
Liberal Party - National Party (joint ticket)	2,452,407	21.87	-2.62	5	12.50	0	0.00	0	0.00
Liberal Party	1,528,730	13.63	-2.61	11	27.50	15	37.50	31	40.79
Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party	1,007,439	8.99	*	1	2.50	1	2.50	1	1.32
Australian Democrats	947,940	8.45	-2.37	4	10.00	4	10.00	9	11.84
Australian Greens	305,228	2.72	+.32	0	0.00	0	0.00	1	1.32
National Party	208,536	1.86	-1.01	0	0.00	1	2.50	3	3.95
Country Liberal Party (NT)	36,063	.32	-.05	1	2.50	1	2.50	1	1.32
Brian Harradine Group (Tas)	24,254	.22	*	1	2.50	1	2.50	1	1.32
Votes for other than listed parties	518,343	4.62	0.00
Totals	11,211,903	100		40	100%	40	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.

Australian Greens: The votes cast for the Greens WA in Western Australia are included with votes for the Australian Greens in this national summary for the Senate.

Note - 104079

Sources

Australian Electoral Commission, Election 98, Volume 1, National Results, Canberra 1998; Australian Electoral Commission, Electoral Statistics 1993, 1996, 1998, CD-ROM, Canberra,1999; 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: Marian Simms and John Warhurst (editors), Howard's Agenda: The 1998 Australian Election, St Lucia, Qld: University of Queensland Press, 2000 (ISBN 0 7022 3163 0).

Note - 103204