ID 0808

Commonwealth Parliament, Senate election in Western Australia

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

Election of 18 October 1980

Show only vote and seat summary details

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Senate enrolment and voting in Western Australia

Total number of voters on the roll in this state/territory
751,260
Total ballots cast (may differ from number of votes in multiple voting systems)
699,957
Turnout (rate of voting in contested seats)
93.17%
Total valid votes
630,504
Rate of informal (invalid) voting
9.92%

Electoral composition of the Senate for this election in Western Australia

Total number of seats in the Senate
64
Total number of seats for each state
10
Number of seats for each territory
2
Seats to be filled at this Senate election in this state/territory
5
Casual vacancies/additional seats included in seats to be filled
0
Electoral System
Adult franchise at 18 years (from 1974); multimember districts, proportional representation by the single transferable vote method (STV); compulsory preferences; compulsory voting

Senate votes and seats won, and seats held in Western Australia

Display Chart

Election held on 18 October 1980
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 %
Liberal Party  283,429  44.95  -1.44  3  60.00  3  60.00  6  60.00 
Australian Labor Party  244,729  38.81  +6.03  2  40.00  2  40.00  4  40.00 
Australian Democrats  58,538  9.28  -3.20  0           
National Country Party  24,937  3.96  -2.15  0           
National Party of Western Australia  7,597  1.20  *  0           
Votes for other than listed parties 11,274 1.79 -0.45             
Totals 630,504  100.00    5  100.00  5  100.00  10  100.00 

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* Party did not contest previous election or did not meet criteria for listing, or contested previous election under a different party name.

Notes

See the Glossary of this website for information on Senate elections and details of the distinction between Seats won by ticket and Seats won by party, and between Seats won and Seats held.

The National Party of Western Australia had split from the National Country Party before this election but, in the national summary for the Senate, their combined vote is included in the total for the National Country Party.

Sources

Colin A Hughes, A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1975-1984, Rushcutters Bay, NSW: Australian National University Press, 1986 (ISBN 008033038X); 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 survey of this election, see: Howard R Penniman (editor), Australia at the Polls: The National Elections of 1980 and 1983, Washington, DC: American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, 1983 (084473506X).