Australian federal election, 1917

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Federal election major party leaders
< 1914 1917 1919 >
Nationalist Billy Hughes Prime Minister Parliament: 16 years Leader since: 1917 Division: Bendigo WIN
Labor Frank Tudor Opposition leader Parliament: 16 years Leader since: 1916 Division: Yarra

Federal elections were held in Australia on 5 May 1917. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist Party of Australia (a result of a merger between the Commonwealth Liberal Party and National Labor Party) led by Prime Minister of Australia Billy Hughes defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by Frank Tudor. Hughes became Prime Minister when Andrew Fisher retired, before leaving Labor to form the National Labor Party and then the Nationalist Party. The election was fought in the aftermath of the first plebiscite on conscription, which had been narrowly defeated. Although Prime Minister Hughes had supported conscription and lost, the scale of his party's win showed that while voters had been unhappy with introducing conscription, they nevertheless still approved of his wartime leadership. The opposition Australian Labor Party, still recovering from the split on conscription that had led Hughes to form his own party, failed to make an impression on voters and suffered a large swing against it. The Nationalist Party was rewarded with the then largest majority for a party in Australia's national parliament.

House of Reps 1917-19 (FPTP) — Turnout 78.30% (Non-CV) — Informal 2.64%

	Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Nationalist Party of Australia	1,021,138	54.22	+7.01	53	+21	(7 elected unopposed)
	Australian Labor Party	827,541	43.94	-6.96	22	-20	(3 elected unopposed)
	Independents	34,755	1.85	-0.05	0	-1
	Total	1,883,434			75
	Nationalist Party of Australia	WIN			53	+21
	Australian Labor Party				22	-20

Senate 1917-19 (FPTP BV) — Turnout 77.69% (Non-CV) — Informal N/A

	Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held
	Nationalist Party of Australia	3,516,354	55.37	+7.60	18	24
	Australian Labor Party	2,776,648	43.72	-8.42	0	12
	Other	57,368	0.90		0	0
	Total	6,350,370			18	36

Contents 1 References

[edit] References

• University of WA election results in Australia since 1890

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