ID 0711

Commonwealth Parliament, Senate election in Tasmania

(for more information on this election see national summary for the Senate)

Election of 10 December 1949

Senate votes and seats won, and seats held in Tasmania

Election held on 10 December 1949
Criteria for the inclusion of parties in this table are set out in the Glossary under listed party

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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 %
Liberal Party	71,944	51.87	+7.22	4	57.14	4	57.14	4	40.00
Australian Labor Party	63,524	45.8	-5.01	3	42.86	3	42.86	6	60.00
Independents	2,490	1.8	-2.74	0	0.00	0	0.00	0	0.00
Votes for other than listed parties	747	0.54	+1.00
Totals	138,705	100		7	100%	7	100%	10	100%

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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.

The increase in the membership of the Senate from 36 to 60 members (an increase from 6 to 10 senators from each state) required the election of 7 senators from each state at the 1949 election (3 existing Senate vacancies in each state and an additional 4 vacancies to bring each state delegation of senators to 10). Regular half Senate elections from 1951 until the Senate was enlarged again in 1984 would be for 5 senators from each state (not including any casual vacancies until the method for fill such vacancies was changed by constitutional amendment in 1977).

The 1949 election was the first to use proportional representation by the single transferable vote method for the election of senators.

Note - 103581

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.