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Australian federal election, 1955

Australian federal election, 1955
Australia
← 1954 10 December 1955 1958 →

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
  RobertMenzies.jpg Herbert V. Evatt.jpg
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 Increase11 Decrease10
Percentage 54.20% 45.80%
Swing Increase4.90 Decrease4.90

Prime Minister before election

Robert Menzies
Liberal/Country coalition

Subsequent Prime Minister

Robert Menzies
Liberal/Country coalition


Robert Menzies
Liberal/Country coalition

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.

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

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.


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