Commonwealth Parliament, Senate election
Election of 2 March 1996
Government in office at Senate election
Senate enrolment and voting
Electoral composition of the Senate for this election
Senate votes and seats won, and seats held, national summary
Election held on 2 March 1996
Criteria for the inclusion of parties in this table are set out in the Glossary under 'listed party'
| 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 | 3,940,150 | 36.15 | -7.35 | 14 | 35.00 | 14 | 35.00 | 29 | 38.16 |
| Liberal Party - National Party (joint ticket) | 2,669,377 | 24.49 | +0.09 | 6 | 15.00 | ||||
| Liberal Party | 1,770,486 | 16.24 | +0.65 | 12 | 30.00 | 17 | 42.50 | 31 | 40.79 |
| Australian Democrats | 1,179,357 | 10.82 | +5.51 | 5 | 12.50 | 5 | 12.50 | 7 | 9.21 |
| National Party | 312,769 | 2.87 | +0.15 | 1 | 2.50 | 2 | 5.00 | 5 | 6.58 |
| Australian Greens | 261,677 | 2.40 | * | 0 | |||||
| Greens WA | 57,006 | 0.52 | +0.02 | 0 | 1 | 1.32 | |||
| Country Liberal Party (NT) | 40,050 | 0.37 | +0.04 | 1 | 2.50 | 1 | 2.50 | 1 | 1.32 |
| Tasmanian Greens | 26,830 | 0.25 | * | 1 | 2.50 | 1 | 2.50 | 1 | 1.32 |
| Brian Harradine Group (Tas) | -0.30 | 1 | 1.32 | ||||||
| Votes for other than listed parties | 641,335 | 5.88 | +1.01 | ||||||
| Totals | 10,899,037 | 100.00 | 40 | 100.00 | 40 | 100.00 | 76 | 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
In the table above, see the Glossary distinctions between Seats won by ticket and Seats won by party, and between Seats won by party and Seats held by party.
Green parties: Green party groupings which had fielded candidates under a variety of party names at previous Senate elections, combined to run candidates on an Australian Greens ticket at this Senate election in all states and territories except Tasmania and Western Australia. In these states, the parties kept their previous names; the Tasmanian Greens in Tasmania and the Greens WA in Western Australia. The votes gained and seats won and/or held for the Tasmanian Greens and the Greens WA are shown separately in this national summary for the Senate.
Sources
Australian Electoral Commission, Electoral Statistics 1993, 1996, 1998, CD-ROM, Canberra,1999; Colin A Hughes, A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1985-1999, Sydney: Federation Press, 2002 (ISBN 1862874344); 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 review of this election, see: Clive Bean, Marian Simms, Scott Bennett and John Warhurst (editors), The Politics of Retribution: The 1996 Federal Election, St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin, 1997 (ISBN 1 86448 386 5).