1937 Australian federal election

File:Lyons Government campaign poster 1937.jpg

Poster promoting the return of the Lyons Government at the 1937 federal election; Lyons became the first Australian prime minister to win three elections.

The 1937 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 23 October 1937. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent UAP–Country coalition government, led by Prime Minister Joseph Lyons, defeated the opposition Labor Party under John Curtin.

The election is notable in that the Country Party achieved its highest-ever primary vote in the lower house, thereby winning nearly a quarter of all lower-house seats. At the 1934 election nine seats in New South Wales had been won by Lang Labor. Following the reunion of the two Labor parties in February 1936, these were held by their members as ALP seats at the 1937 election. With the party's wins in Ballaarat and Gwydir (initially at a by-election on 8 March 1937), the ALP had a net gain of 11 seats compared with the previous election.

This was the first federal election that future Prime Ministers Harold Holt and Arthur Fadden contested as members of parliament, having entered parliament at the 1935 Fawkner by-election and 1936 Darling Downs by-election respectively.

This was the first federal election under George VI who became head of state after his brother Edward VIII who abdicated in December the previous year.

Results

House of Representatives

File:Australian Federal Election, 1937.svg

  Labor: 29 seats

  United Australia: 28 seats

  Country: 15 seats

  Independent: 2 seats

House of Reps (IRV) — 1937–40—Turnout 96.13% (CV) — Informal 2.59%

File:1937 Australian House.svg

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	UAP–Country coalition		1.774,805	49.26	–1.01	43	–4
	Template:Australian party style|	United Australia	1,214,526	33.71	+0.73	28	0
	Template:Australian party style|	Country	560,279	15.55	+2.93	15	+1
Template:Australian party style|	Labor		1,555,737	43.17	+16.36	29	+11
Template:Australian party style|	Social Credit		79,432	2.20	−2.49	0	0
Template:Australian party style|	Communist		17,153	0.48	+0.48	0	0
Template:Australian party style|	Independents		176,214	4.89	+2.38	3Template:Efn	+2
	Total		3,603,223			75
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
Template:Australian party style|	UAP–Country coalition		Win	50.60	−2.90	43	+1
Template:Australian party style |	Labor			49.40	+2.90	29	+11

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Notes

• Four members were elected unopposed, all from the Labor Party.
• Independents: Alexander Wilson (Wimmera, Vic) and Percy Spender (Warringah, NSW).
• The member for Northern Territory, Adair Blain (independent), had voting rights only for issues relating to the Territory, and so is not included in the table.

Popular vote Labor   43.17% United Australia   33.17% Country   15.55% Independent   5.56% Social Credit   2.20% Communist   0.48%

Two-party-preferred vote Coalition   50.60% Labor   49.40%

Parliament seats Coalition   58.11% Labor   38.19% Independent   2.70%

Senate

Senate (P BV) — 1937–40—Turnout 94.75% (CV) — Informal 9.56%

File:1937 Australian Senate.svg

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held	Change
Template:Australian party style|	Labor		1,699,172	48.48	+20.40	16	16	+13
	UAP–Country coalition		1,636,889	46.71	–6.51	3	20	–13
		UAP–Country joint ticket	1,005,247	28.68	+10.44	0	N/A	N/A
	Template:Australian party style |	United Australia	565,161	16.13	−4.54	3	16	−10
	Template:Australian party style |	Country	66,481	1.90	−12.41	0	4	−3
Template:Australian party style |	Social Credit		49,801	1.42	−1.36	0	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	Independent		118,768	3.39	+2.93	0	0	0
	Total		3,504,630			19	36

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1937				Swing	Post-1937
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Ballaarat, Vic	Template:Australian party style|	United Australia	Archibald Fisken	3.9	3.5	0.6	Reg Pollard	Labor	Template:Australian party style|
Bendigo, Vic	Template:Australian party style|	United Australia	Eric Harrison	N/A	0.3	6.9	George Rankin	Country	Template:Australian party style|
Grey, SA	Template:Australian party style|	United Australia	Philip McBride	N/A	2.9	7.1	Oliver Badman	Country	Template:Australian party style|
Warringah, NSW	Template:Australian party style|	United Australia	Archdale Parkhill	N/A	29.4	1.9	Percy Spender	Independent UAP	Template:Australian party style|
Wimmera, Vic	Template:Australian party style|	Country	Hugh McClelland	N/A	2.9	1.9	Alexander Wilson	Independent	Template:Australian party style|

• Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.

See also

• Candidates of the 1937 Australian federal election
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1937–1940
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1938–1941

External links

• University of WA Template:Webarchive election results in Australia since 1890
• Two-party-preferred vote since 1937