ID 0787

Commonwealth Parliament, Senate election

Election of 21 November 1970

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
21 November 1970
Type of Senate election
Half Senate without 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 Grey Gorton
Prime Minister's party affiliation
Liberal 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)
Country Party

Senate enrolment and voting

Total number of voters on the roll
6,611,742
Total ballots cast (may differ from number of votes in multiple voting systems)
6,213,763
Turnout (rate of voting in contested seats)
93.98%
Total valid votes
5,628,833
Rate of informal (invalid) voting
9.41%

Electoral composition of the Senate for this election

Total number of seats in the Senate
60
Total number of seats for each state
10
Number of seats for each territory
Seats to be filled at this Senate election
32
Casual vacancies/additional seats included in seats to be filled
2
Electoral System
Adult franchise at 21 years; multimember districts; proportional representation by the single transferable vote method (STV); compulsory preferences; compulsory voting

Senate votes and seats won, and seats held, national summary

Display Chart

Election held on 21 November 1970
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   2,376,215  42.22  -2.81  14  43.75  14  43.75  26  43.33 
Liberal Party - Country Party (joint ticket)  1,098,134  19.51  -14.31  4  12.50         
Liberal Party  991,473  17.61  +9.47  8  25.00  11  34.38  21  35.00 
Democratic Labor Party  625,142  11.11  +1.34  3  9.38  3  9.38  5  8.33 
Australia Party  163,343  2.90  *  0           
Independents  95,902  1.70  +0.71  2  6.25  2  6.25  3  5.00 
Country Party  59,416  1.06  +0.24  1  3.13  2  6.25  5  8.33 
Votes for other than listed parties 219,208 3.89 +3.89             
Totals 5,628,833  100.00    32  100.00  32  100.00  60  100.00 

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

This election in 1970 was a regular election for half the members of the Senate but, unlike most Senate elections, it was not held at the same time as a general election for the House of Representatives.

Sources

Colin A Hughes, A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1965-1974, Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1977 (ISBN 0708113400); 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).


Top