Chamber:
	Senate
Dates of elections / renewal (from/to):
	3 October 1998
Purpose of elections:
	Elections were held for 40 Senators following the dissolution of Parliament on 31 August 1998. General elections had previously been held in March 1996.
Background and outcome of elections:
	On 30 August 1998, Prime Minister John Howard (Liberal Party) announced a snap general election, polling not being due for another six to eight months and called with the minimum legal notice of five weeks. In doing so, he stated that the elections would be fought on the issue of "economic management and economic competence". Debate in the campaign focused to a large extent on the proposal by the Liberal-National Party coalition Government to introduce fiscal reform and a 10% goods and services consumption tax (GST) in order to improve the public finance sector; this, it promised, would be offset by personal income tax cuts. Furthermore, the conservative coalition pointed to its positive record of bringing steady economic growth and pledged to continue its controversial privatization programme as well as labor reforms to weaken the power of trade unions. The main opposition Australian Labor Party (ALP) criticized the GST and especially its imposition on food and books. The ALP leader, Mr. Kim Beazley, promoted a less radical tax reform plan, pledging cuts targeting low and middle-income earners, and also said that a Labor government would cut the unemployment rate from 8% to 5%. Among the other parties, media attention focused on the far-right One Nation group, led by Ms. Pauline Hanson, which advocated curbs on Asian immigration, and on special funding for Aboriginal people, foreign investment and free trade. Altogether, 34 parties and a record number of 1435 candidates (1106 for the 148 seats in the House of Representatives, 329 for the 40 Senate seats at stake) were in the running. On polling day, the Liberal-National alliance was returned to power but with a sharply reduced majority in the House as the ALP rebounded from its 1996 showing to capture a total of 67 seats. One Nation, for its part, lost its only seat that had been held by Ms. Hanson. In the Senate election, however, while the governing coalition and the ALP likewise retained their leading positions, the progressive Australian Democrats, headed by Ms. Meg Lees, recorded enough gains to give it the balance of power as the third-ranking party and thus a key role in lawmaking (the new Senators will take their seats on 1 July 1999). Given the outcome for the House, Mr. Howard continued as Prime Minister and Mr. Tim Fischer, the National Party leader, as his Deputy. The new Government was sworn in on 21 October 1998.

STATISTICS

Round no 1 (3 October 1998): Elections results
Number of registered electors	12,112,506
Voters	11,585,377 (95.64%)
Blank or invalid ballot papers	373,374
Valid votes	11,210,003

Round no 1: Distribution of votes
Political Group	%
Liberal/National Party	37.7
Australian Labor Party (ALP)	37.3
Australian Democrats	8.46
One Nation	8.99
Greens	2.27
Others	4.85

Round no 1: Distribution of seats
Political Group	Total	Seats 1998
Liberal/National Party	34	16
Australian Labor Party (ALP)	29	17
Australian Democrats	9	4
One Nation	1	1
Greens	1	0
Others	2	2

Distribution of seats according to sex:
Men:	53
Women:	23

Distribution of seats according to age:
20-30 years	1
31-40 years	11
41-50 years	22
51-60 years	30
61-70 years	12