ELECTIONS HELD IN 2001
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| Chamber: | |
| House of Representatives | |
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| 10 November 2001 | |
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| Elections were held for all the seats in the House of Representatives on the normal expiry of the members' term of office. | |
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| The Governor-General prorogued the Parliament and dissolved the House of Representatives on 8 October 2001 in the run-up to the general elections, to be held on 10 November 2001. At stake were 150 seats in the House of Representatives and 40 in the Senate. The number of seats in the House of Representatives increased to 150 in this election as a result of provincial redistribution.
Although six main parties competed for votes, during the electoral campaign, the focus was on two men: Prime Minister John Howard, leader of the Liberal Party, and the opposition leader, Kim Beazley from the Labour Party. Mr Howard centred his campaign on the war on terrorism, on immigration and economic stability, while Mr Beazley concentrated on social security, border controls and family welfare. Mr Howard's popularity rose strongly (some 2%) after trailing in opinion polls, when he adopted stringent laws to enable the Navy to head off vessels carrying asylum-seekers. In the elections, the ruling coalition of the Liberal and National parties won a majority of the seats in the House of Representatives with 68 and 13, respectively, while the Labour Party won 65. Mr Kim Beazley resigned as the Labour Party leader after conceding defeat at the polls and the former trade union chief, Mr Simon Crean, was elected as the new party leader. Prime Minister John Howard announced his new cabinet on 23 November 2001, and was sworn in three days later for his third term in office. |
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STATISTICS
| Round no 1 (10 November 2001): Elections results | |
| Voters | 12 054 455 (95 %) |
| Blank or invalid ballot papers | 580 362 |
| Valid votes | 11 474 093 |
| Round no 1: Distribution of votes | |||
| Political Group | Votes | % | |
| Liberal Party | 4 254 072 | 37.08 | |
| Australian Labor Party (ALP) | 4 341 419 | 37.84 | |
| National Party | 643 924 | 5.61 | |
| Others | n.a. | n.a. | |
| Round no 1: Distribution of seats | |||
| Political Group | Total | ||
| Liberal Party | 68 | ||
| Australian Labor Party (ALP) | 65 | ||
| National Party | 13 | ||
| Others | 4 | ||
| Distribution of seats according to sex: | |
| Men: | 112 |
| Women: | 38 |
| Percent of women: | 25.33 % |
Copyright © 2001 Inter-Parliamentary Union