Australian federal election, 1955

10 December 1955

All 122 seats of the Australian House of Representatives 62 seats were needed for a majority in the House 30 (of the 60) seats of the Australian Senate

	First party	Second party

Leader	Robert Menzies	H.V. Evatt
Party	Liberal/Country coalition	Labor
Leader since	23 September 1943	13 June 1951
Leader's seat	Kooyong	Barton
Last election	64 seats	57 seats
Seats won	75 seats	47 seats
Seat change	11	10
Percentage	54.20%	45.80%
Swing	4.90	4.90

Prime Minister before election

Robert Menzies
Liberal/Country coalition

Subsequent Prime Minister

Robert Menzies
Liberal/Country coalition

Federal elections were held in Australia on 10 December 1955. All 122 seats in the House of Representatives, and 30 of the 60 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia Robert Menzies with coalition partner the Country Party led by Arthur Fadden defeated the Australian Labor Party led by H. V. Evatt.

Results

House of Reps (IRV) — 1955–58—Turnout 95.00% (CV) — Informal 2.88%
	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change	Notes
Australian Labor Party	1,961,829	44.63	−5.40	47	−10
Liberal Party of Australia	1,746,485	39.73	+1.43	57	+10	(5 elected unopposed)
Country Party	347,445	7.90	−0.61	18	+1	(5 elected unopposed)
Anti-Communist Labor Party	227,083	5.17	*	0	0
Other	112,693	2.56		0	0
Total	4,395,535			122	+1
Liberal/Country coalition	WIN	54.20	+4.90	75	+11
Australian Labor Party		45.80	−4.90	47	−10

This would be the last federal election where any seat attracted only one candidate, who was elected unopposed.

Senate (STV) — 1955–58—Turnout 95.01% (CV) — Informal 9.63%
	Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held	Change
Australian Labor Party	1,803,335	40.61	−10.01	12	28	−1
Liberal/Country (Joint Ticket)	1,748,878	39.38	+12.93	8	*
Liberal Party of Australia	384,732	8.66	−9.32	8	24	−2
Anti-Communist Labor Party	271,067	6.10	*	1	2	+2
Communist Party of Australia	161,869	3.64	+0.59	0	0	0
Country Party	27,850	0.63	+0.63	1	6	+1
Other	43,294	0.97		0	0
Total	4,612,059			30	60

Seat	Pre-1955				Swing	Post-1955
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	Margin	Member	Party
Ballaarat, Vic		Labor	Bob Joshua*	2.6	10.7	7.9	Dudley Erwin	Liberal
Hume, NSW		Labor	Arthur Fuller	2,2	3.5	2.2	Charles Anderson	Country
Maribyrnong, Vic		Labor	Arthur Drakeford	16.1	7.5	0.1	Philip Stokes	Liberal
Perth, WA		Labor	Tom Burke	2.3	3.8	1.5	Fred Chaney	Liberal
Philip, NSW		Labor	Joe Fitzgerald	8.9	5.7	1.1	William Aston	Liberal
St George, NSW		Labor	Nelson Lemmon	2.7	5.8	3.4	Bill Graham	Liberal

In 1949, Robert Menzies founded the Liberal Party of Australia (descended from the United Australia Party), which was led by Menzies for 16 years through successive elections with the traditional coalition in place with the Country Party. Labor stayed out of government for 23 years after the defeat of the Chifley government in 1949, largely due to the Australian Labor Party split of 1955 and the subsequent splinter-group Democratic Labor Party. Labor nevertheless won the two-party-preferred vote (the 1954, 1961 and 1969 elections), but not enough seats to form government. The election saw the peak of the Communist Party Senate vote, with 161,869 at 3.64 percent.

University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
AEC 2PP vote
Prior to 1984 the AEC did not undertake a full distribution of preferences for statistical purposes. The stored ballot papers for the 1983 election were put through this process prior to their destruction. Therefore, the figures from 1983 onwards show the actual result based on full distribution of preferences.

Elections and referendums in Australia

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