Election held on 24 February 1968
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 | 931,563 | 43.10 | -0.21 | 39 | 0 | 41.49 |
Liberal Party | 831,514 | 38.47 | -1.12 | 36 | 0 | 38.30 |
Country Party | 229,656 | 10.62 | +0.39 | 17 | 0 | 18.09 |
Independents | 113,552 | 5.25 | +1.13 | 2 | 0 | 2.13 |
Democratic Labor Party | 49,457 | 2.29 | +0.18 | 0 | ||
Communist Party | 5,828 | 0.27 | -0.37 | 0 | ||
Votes for other than listed parties | 0 | 0.00 | 0.00 | |||
Totals | 2,161,570 | 100.00 | 94 | 0 | 100.00 |
Government in office at election: After the 1965 election, Askin formed a Liberal Party and Country Party coalition minority government which held 47 of the 94 seats in the Legislative Assembly, and relied on two conservative independents to maintain a majority. The government won an additional seat from the Labor Party at the Bathurst by-election held on 6 May 1967 and secured majority support for the coalition until the election in 1968.
Redistribution and postal voting: The was a major redistribution and redrawing of electoral district boundaries before this election, and the reintroduction of postal voting which had been abolished by a Labor government in 1949; for a discussion of the significance of these changes, see Dempsey, pp. 7-10 (see 'Reference', below).
Reference: For a comprehensive survey of this election, see Robert Dempsey, '1968', in Michael Hogan and David Clune (editors), The People's Choice: Electoral Politics in 20th Century New South Wales, vol. 3 (1968-1999), pp. 1-36, (Sydney: Parliament of New South Wales and University of Sydney, 2001, ISBN 0909907412).
Colin A Hughes, A Handbook of Australian Government and Politics 1965-1974, pp. 105-108, (Canberra; Australian National University Press, 1977, ISBN 0708113400); New South Wales, Parliament, The New South Wales Parliamentary Record: Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly, 1824-1999, vol. VI, pp. 7-15, (Sydney: Parliament of New South Wales, 1999).