Victorian state election, 1961

Victorian state election, 1961
Victoria (Australia)
15 July 1961
All 66 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly
and 17 (of the 34) seats in the Victorian Legislative Council
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Henry Bolte Clive Stoneham Herbert Hyland
Party Liberal and Country Labor Country
Leader since 3 May 1953 1958 1955
Leader's seat Hampden Midlands Gippsland South
Last election 39 seats 18 seats 9 seats
Seats won 39 seats 17 seats 9 seats
Seat change Steady0 Decrease1 Steady0
Percentage 36.44% 38.55% 7.14%
Swing Decrease0.74 Increase0.86 Decrease2.16
Premier before election

Henry Bolte
Liberal and Country

 Premier after election

Henry Bolte
Liberal and Country

Elections were held in the Australian state of Victoria on 15 July 1961 to elect the 66 members of the state's Legislative Assembly and 17 members of the 34-member Legislative Council. The Liberal and Country Party (LCP) government of Premier Henry Bolte won a third term in office. It was the first Victorian election at which all seats in both houses were contested by at least two candidates.

Key dates

Date Event
24 May 1961 The Parliament was prorogued.[1]
1 June 1961 Writs were issued by the Administrator to proceed with an election.[2]
23 June 1961 Close of nominations.
15 July 1961 Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
28 July 1961 The Bolte Ministry was reconstituted, with two new ministers sworn in.[3]
1 August 1961 The writ was returned and the results formally declared.
1 August 1961 Parliament resumed for business.[4]

Results

The election produced almost no change in the electoral balance.

Victorian state election, 15 July 1961[5]
Legislative Assembly
<< 1958 — 1964 >>

Enrolled voters 1,554,856
Votes cast 1,554,856 Turnout 94.41 +0.18
Informal votes 35,937 Informal 2.45 +0.67
Summary of votes by party
Party Primary votes % Swing Seats Change
  Labor 552,015 38.55 +0.86 17 – 1
  Liberal and Country 521,777 36.44 –0.74 39 ± 0
  Democratic Labor 242,753 16.95 +2.53 0 ± 0
  Country 102,184 7.14 –2.16 9 ± 0
  Other 3,722 0.26 +0.16 0 ± 0
  Independent 9,474 0.66 –0.64 1 + 1
Total 1,431,925     66  
Two-party-preferred
  Liberal and Country 829,977 57.9 +0.1
  Labor 602,493 42.1 –0.1

Seats changing hands

Seat Pre-1961 Swing Post-1961
Party Member Margin Margin Member Party
Moorabbin   Liberal and Country Bob Suggett 9.4 N/A 8.7 Bob Suggett Independent Liberal  
Oakleigh   Labor Val Doube 1.8 -4.2 2.5 Alan Scanlan Liberal and Country  

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Discharging members of the Legislative Council from attendance and dissolving the Legislative Assembly". Victorian Government Gazette. 24 May 1961. p. 1961:1747.
  2. ↑ "General Election". Victorian Government Gazette. 24 May 1961. p. 1961:1748.
  3. ↑ "Ministers of the Crown". Victorian Government Gazette. 28 July 1961. p. 1961:2601.
  4. ↑ "Fixing the time for holding the first session of the forty-second Parliament of Victoria". Victorian Government Gazette. 27 July 1961. p. 1961:2585.
  5. ↑ Australian Government and Politics Database. "Parliament of Victoria, Assembly election, 15 July 1961". Retrieved 1 February 2010.