Australian federal election, 1943

← 1940

21 August 1943

1946 →

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

	First party	Second party

Leader	John Curtin	Arthur Fadden
Party	Labor	Country/UAP coalition
Leader since	1 October 1935 (1935-10-01)	29 August 1941 (1941-08-29)
Leader's seat	Fremantle	Darling Downs
Last election	32 seats	37 seats
Seats won	49 seats	19 seats
Seat change	17	18
Percentage	58.20%	41.80%
Swing	7.90	7.90

Prime Minister before election

John Curtin
Labor

Subsequent Prime Minister

John Curtin
Labor

Federal elections were held in Australia on 21 August 1943. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Australian Labor Party led by Prime Minister of Australia John Curtin defeated the opposition Country Party led by Arthur Fadden and coalition partner the United Australia Party led by Billy Hughes.

Although the UAP was the nominal senior partner in the Coalition and had been in government since 1931, it found itself bereft of leadership following the forced resignation of its leader, Robert Menzies. Hughes succeeded him as UAP leader, which would have normally positioned him to become Prime Minister for a second time. However, Hughes was a month shy of 78 and already in declining health. With Hughes deemed too frail to lead the country in war, Country Party leader Fadden was thus forced to take over as Prime Minister. Fadden only stayed in office for six weeks before the two independents who had been keeping the UAP in office since 1940 joined Labor in voting down his budget. Governor-General Lord Gowrie was reluctant to call an election for a Parliament barely a year old, especially considering the international situation. At his urging, the independents threw their support to Labor for the remainder of the parliamentary term.

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