Commonwealth Parliament, House of Representatives election
Election of 2 March 1996
Government in office and parliamentary support before and after the election
Government in office at election
Government in office after election
Enrolment and voting
House of Representatives votes and seats won, 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 n | Uncontested seats held n | Seat share % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Labor Party | 4,217,765 | 38.75 | -6.17 | 49 | 0 | 33.11 |
| Liberal Party | 4,210,689 | 38.69 | +1.92 | 75 | 0 | 50.68 |
| National Party | 893,170 | 8.21 | +1.04 | 18 | 0 | 12.16 |
| Australian Democrats | 735,848 | 6.76 | +3.01 | 0 | ||
| Greens | 317,654 | 2.92 | +1.06 | 0 | ||
| Independents | 253,894 | 2.33 | -0.77 | 5 | 0 | 3.38 |
| Country Liberal Party (NT) | 38,302 | 0.35 | +0.02 | 1 | 0 | 0.68 |
| Votes for other than listed parties | 216,530 | 1.99 | -0.11 | |||
| Totals | 10,883,852 | 100.00 | 148 | 0 | 100.00 |
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Notes
The vote shown for the Greens in the national summary includes votes for a variety of Green party groupings which fielded candidates at this House of Representatives election. In the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Queensland and South Australia, the Greens party grouping crossed the threshold for inclusion in this database in state summaries (see, listed party in the Glossary of this website) together with the Tasmanian Greens and the Greens WA from Western Australia. In the national summary for the House of Representatives for this election, votes for all these Green party groupings are included under Greens.
The vote shown for Independents for the national summary of this House of Representatives election is the sum of votes cast for all candidates registered as Independents (122) and those candidates who ran for office without any registered party name (24). There were 146 such candidates. The votes for the Independent candidate from Queensland who was elected at this election (the member for the electoral district of Oxley, Pauline Hanson) are not included in the Independent total; although her party endorsement was withdrawn before the election, her name was listed on the ballot as a member of the Liberal Party and her votes are included in the Liberal Party total.
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).