ID 0813

Commonwealth Parliament, Senate election in Western Australia

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

Election of 5 March 1983

Show only vote and seat summary details

Previous election in this series | Next election in this series

Senate enrolment and voting in Western Australia

Total number of voters on the roll in this state/territory
798,973
Total ballots cast (may differ from number of votes in multiple voting systems)
743,315
Turnout (rate of voting in contested seats)
93.03%
Total valid votes
685,058
Rate of informal (invalid) voting
7.84%

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
10
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 5 March 1983
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  337,417  49.25  +10.44  5  50.00  5  50.00  5  50.00 
Liberal Party  280,878  41.00  -3.95  4  40.00  4  40.00  4  40.00 
Australian Democrats  46,626  6.81  -2.48  1  10.00  1  10.00  1  10.00 
National Country Party  7,689  1.12  -2.83  0           
National Party of Western Australia  3,894  0.57  -0.64  0           
Votes for other than listed parties 8,554 1.25 -0.54             
Totals 685,058  100.00    10  100.00  10  100.00  10  100.00 

Previous election in this series | Next election in this series | Display Chart

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.

In the national summary for the Senate for this election, the votes cast for the National Country Party include the votes for the National Party of Western Australia.

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).