ID 0289

Commonwealth Parliament, House of Representatives election

Election of 11 July 1987

Show only vote and seat summary details

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General election for the House of Representatives
Commonwealth of Australia
Date of election
11 July 1987

Government in office and parliamentary support before and after the election

Government in office at election

Prime Minister in office at date of election. (check notes to see if change of Prime Minister since previous election)
Robert James Lee Hawke
Prime Minister's party affiliation
Australian Labor Party
House of Representatives support for government at election
Majority
If coalition, coalition partner(s)

Government in office after election

Prime Minister in office after election.
Robert James Lee Hawke
Prime Minister's party affiliation
Australian Labor Party
House of Representatives support for government after election
Majority
If coalition, coalition partner(s)

Enrolment and voting

Total number of voters on the roll
10,353,213
Number of House of Representatives seats
148
Number of uncontested seats
0
If uncontested seats, number of voters on the roll in uncontested seats
Number of voters on the roll in contested seats
10,353,213
Total ballots cast (may differ from number of votes in multiple voting systems)
9,715,440
Turnout (rate of voting in contested seats)
93.84%
Total valid votes
9,235,086
Rate of informal (invalid) voting
4.94%
Informal (invalid) ballots in multiple voting system
Not applicable
Electoral system
Adult franchise at 18 years (from 1974); single member districts, preferential voting (AV); compulsory preferences; compulsory voting

House of Representatives votes and seats won, national summary

Display Chart

Election held on 11 July 1987
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 n Uncontested seats held n Seat share %
Australian Labor Party  4,232,563  45.83  -1.72  86  0  58.11 
Liberal Party  3,169,391  34.32  +0.26  43  0  29.05 
National Party  1,064,230  11.52  +0.89  19  0  12.84 
Australian Democrats  557,259  6.03  +0.58  0     
Independents  148,164  1.60  *  0     
Country Liberal Party (NT)  21,668  0.23  -0.08  0     
Votes for other than listed parties 41,811 0.45 -1.54       
Totals 9,235,086  100.00    148  0  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

Sources

Australian Electoral Commission, Election Statistics, Result of Count, Senate, House of Representatives, Election 1987, Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service, 1987 (ISBN 0644072267); 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 Ian McAllister and John Warhurst (editors), Australia Votes: The 1987 Federal Election, Melbourne: Longman Cheshire, 1988 (ISBN 058271224 6).


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