1955 Australian federal election

Template:Short description Template:Use Australian English Template:Use dmy dates The 1955 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 10 December 1955. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives and 30 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election. An early election was called to bring the House and Senate elections back in line; the previous election in 1954 had been House-only. The incumbent Liberal–Country coalition led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies increased its majority over the opposition Labor Party, led by H. V. Evatt.

Future Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser and future opposition leader Billy Snedden both entered parliament at this election.

Results

House of Representatives

File:Australian Federal Election, 1955.svg

  Labor: 47 seats

  Liberal: 56 seats

  Country: 18 seats

House of Reps (IRV) — 1955–58—Turnout 95.00% (CV) — Informal 2.88%

File:1955 Australian House.svg

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Liberal–Country coalition		2,093,430	47.67	+0.10	75	+11
	Template:Australian party style |	Liberal	1,745,985	39.75	+0.75	57	+10
	Template:Australian party style |	Country	347,445	7.91	–0.66	18	+1
Template:Australian party style |	Labor		1,961,359	44.65	–5.42	49Template:Efn	–10
Template:Australian party style |	Anti-Communist Labor		227,083	5.17	+5.17	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	Communist		51,001	1.16	–0.09	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	Independents		60,042	1.37	+0.26	0	0
	Total		4,392,915			122	+1
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
Template:Australian party style |	Liberal–Country coalition		Win	54.20	+4.90	75	+11
Template:Australian party style |	Labor			45.80	−4.90	49	−10

• Ten members were elected unopposed – five Liberal and five Country. This would be the last federal election where any seat attracted only one candidate.

Popular vote Labor   44.65% Liberal   39.75% Country   7.91% ALP AC   5.17% Independent   1.37% Communist   1.16%

Two-party-preferred vote Coalition   54.20% Labor   45.80%

Parliament seats Coalition   61.48% Labor   38.52%

Senate

Senate (STV) — 1955–58—Turnout 95.01% (CV) — Informal 9.63%

File:1955 Australian Senate.svg

Party			Votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held	Change
	Liberal–Country coalition		2,161,460	48.68	+4.25	17	30	–1
	Template:Australian party style |	Liberal–Country joint ticket	1,748,878	39.38	+12.93	8	N/A	N/A
	Template:Australian party style |	Liberal	384,732	8.66	–9.32	8	24	–2
	Template:Australian party style |	Country	27,850	0.63	+0.63	1	6	+1
Template:Australian party style |	Labor		1,803,335	40.61	–10.00	12	28	–1
Template:Australian party style |	Anti-Communist Labor		271,067	6.10	+6.10	1	2	+2
Template:Australian party style |	Communist		161,869	3.64	+0.59	0	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	Henry George Justice		3,366	0.08	–0.22	0	0	0
Template:Australian party style |	Independents		39,928	0.90	+0.36	0	0	0
	Total		4,441,025			30	60

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1955				Swing	Post-1955
	Party		Member	Margin		Margin	Member	Party
Ballaarat, Vic	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Bob Joshua*	2.6	10.7	7.9	Dudley Erwin	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Hume, NSW	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Arthur Fuller	2,2	3.5	2.2	Charles Anderson	Country	Template:Australian party style|
Maribyrnong, Vic	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Arthur Drakeford	16.1	7.5	0.1	Philip Stokes	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Perth, WA	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Tom Burke	2.3	3.8	1.5	Fred Chaney	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
Philip, NSW	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Joe Fitzgerald	8.9	5.7	1.1	William Aston	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|
St George, NSW	Template:Australian party style|	Labor	Nelson Lemmon	2.7	5.8	3.4	Bill Graham	Liberal	Template:Australian party style|

• Bob Joshua contested his seat as a candidate for the Australian Labor Party (Anti-Communist).

See also

• Candidates of the 1955 Australian federal election
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1955–1958
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1956–1959

References

• University of WA Template:Webarchive election results in Australia since 1890
• AEC 2PP vote
• Adam Carr's Election Archive - Senate 1955
• Prior to 1984 the AEC did not undertake a full distribution of preferences for statistical purposes. The stored ballot papers for the 1983 election were put through this process prior to their destruction. Therefore, the figures from 1983 onwards show the actual result based on full distribution of preferences.