Australian federal election, 1937

Australian Federal Election, 1937

← 1934

23 October 1937

1940 →

All 74 seats of the Australian House of Representatives
38 seats were needed for a majority in the House
19 (of the 36) seats of the Australian Senate

	First party	Second party

Leader	Joseph Lyons	John Curtin
Party	UAP/Country coalition	Labor
Leader since	7 May 1931	1 October 1935
Leader's seat	Wilmot	Fremantle
Last election	42 seats	18 seats
Seats won	43 seats	29 seats
Seat change	1	11
Percentage	50.60%	49.40%
Swing	2.90	2.90

Prime Minister before election

Joseph Lyons
UAP/Country coalition

Subsequent Prime Minister

Joseph Lyons
UAP/Country coalition

Federal elections were held in Australia on 23 October 1937. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent United Australia Party led by Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons with coalition partner the Country Party led by Earle Page defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by John Curtin.

The election is notable in that the Country Party (later the National Party) achieved its highest-ever primary vote in the lower house, thereby winning nearly a quarter of all lower house seats. At the 1934 election nine seats in New South Wales had been won by Lang Labor. Following the reunion of the two Labor parties in February 1936, these were held by their members as ALP seats at the 1937 election. With the party's win in Ballaarat and Gwydir (initially at a by-election on 8 March 1937), the ALP had a net gain of 11 seats compared with the previous election.

Independent: Alexander Wilson (Wimmera, Vic)

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