AUSTRALIA

ELECTIONS IN 2004

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Chamber:

Senate

Dates of election / renewal (from/to):

9 October 2004

Purpose of elections:

Elections were held for one-half of the Senators on the normal expiry of the members' term of office.

Background and outcome of elections:

Australians went to the polls on 9 October 2004 to elect the 150 members of the House of Representatives and 40 of the 76 seats of the Senate.

The election campaign was a tight contest between the conservative Coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party, led by Prime Minister Mr John Howard, and the Australian Labor Party, led by Mr Mark Latham, who had been elected its leader in December 2003. After five weeks of campaigning, opinion polls put the two sides in a virtual dead heat. During the election campaign, Mr Howard concentrated on the two main pillars of his bid for re-election, i.e. economic prosperity, including the lowest interest rates in a generation, and a steady hand in matters of national security, while Labor's campaign was centred on issues such as creating a more equitable education system and making health care more affordable.

The bombing of the Australian Embassy in Jakarta the month prior to the elections made national security a key issue in the campaign. Both candidates had very different positions on the country's role in the war on terror. Prime Minister John Howard had sent the third biggest combat force in the US-led intervention in Iraq, while Mr Latham said the deployment had made the country less safe and promised that as Prime Minister he would withdraw most of Australia's troops from Iraq by the end of the year.

The elections saw the Coalition increase its majority in the House of Representatives with the Liberal Party obtaining 75 seats and its coalition partner, the National Party, 12. The Australian Labor Party won 60 seats, and three independents were elected.

The strong support for the Government was also reflected in the Senate where the Coalition will gain control with a total of 39 seats, 21 of them obtained in the 2004 elections. The Labor Party won 16 seats in the Senate election and will have 28 senators after June 2005; the Australian Greens won two seats and will have four senators in the new Senate; the Australian Democrats won no seats and will have four senators. The Family First Party won its first seat.

Following the Labor Party's defeat, Mr. Mark Latham resigned not only as Labor leader but from parliament. A by-election was thus held for the district of Werriwa on 19 March 2005. Mr. Chris Hayes of the Labor Party won this by-election with 55.53 per cent of the vote.

New senators will take their seats on 1 July 2005.

STATISTICS


Round no 1 (9 October 2004): Election results
Number of registered electors		13'098'461
Voters		12'420'019 (94.82%)
Blank or invalid ballot papers		466'370
Valid votes		11'953'649



Round no 1: Distribution of votes

Political Group	Candidates	Votes	%
Liberal National coalition	39	5'390'114	45.09
Australian Labor Party (ALP)	25	4'186'715	35.02
Greens	30	916'431	7.67
Family First Party	17	210'567	1.76

Round no 1: Distribution of seats

Political Group

Total

Liberal National coalition

Australian Labor Party (ALP)

Greens

Family First Party

Comments:

14 of 40 new members are women.

Source: Australian Senate (22.02.2005)

Distribution of seats according to sex:

Men:

Women:

Percent of women:

18.42

Distribution of seats according to age:

Distribution of seats according to profession:

Party and union administrators		18
Business executives and managers		14
Barristers, solicitors, lawyers, legal officers		11
Political consultants, advisers and lobbyists		7
Farmers, graziers, other (full time) primary producers		5
Lecturers, professors, tutors		4
Party and union officials		3
Researchers, research assistants, electoral and professionals		3
Teachers		3
Members of State/Territory Legislatures		2
Social workers		1
Medical practitioner (including dentist)		1
Other consultants		1
Accountants, financial advisers, bankers, etc.		1
Architects, town planners		1

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