Australian federal election, 1937

Australian Federal Election, 1937

23 October 1937

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

	First party	Second party

Leader	Joseph Lyons	John Curtin
Party	UAP/Country coalition	Labor
Leader since	7 May 1931	1 October 1935
Leader's seat	Wilmot	Fremantle
Last election	42 seats	18 seats
Seats won	43 seats	29 seats
Seat change	1	11
Percentage	50.60%	49.40%
Swing	2.9	2.9

Prime Minister before election

Joseph Lyons
UAP/Country coalition

Elected Prime Minister

Joseph Lyons
UAP/Country coalition

Federal elections were held in Australia on 23 October 1937. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent United Australia Party led by Prime Minister of Australia Joseph Lyons with coalition partner the Country Party led by Earle Page defeated the opposition Australian Labor Party led by John Curtin.

The election is notable in that the Country Party (later the National Party) achieved its highest-ever primary vote in the lower house, thereby winning nearly a quarter of all lower house seats. At the 1934 election nine seats in New South Wales had been won by Lang Labor. Following the reunion of the two Labor parties in February 1936, these were held by their members as ALP seats at the 1937 election. With the party's win in Ballaarat and Gwydir (initially at a by-election on 8 March 1937), the ALP had a net gain of 11 seats compared with the previous election.

Results

**House of Reps (IRV) — 1937–40—Turnout 96.13% (CV) — Informal 2.59%**
Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
Australian Labor Party	1,555,737	43.17	+16.36	29	+11	^{(4 elected} _unopposed)
United Australia Party	1,214,526	33.71	+0.73	28	0
Country Party	560,279	15.55	+2.93	15	+1
Social Credit Party	79,432	2.20	−2.49	0	0
Independent UAP (NSW)	25,522	0.71	*	1	+1
Independent	150,692	4.18	+1.00	1	+1
Other	17,153	0.48		0	−14
Total	3,603,341			74
UAP/Country coalition	WIN	50.60	−2.9	43	+1
Australian Labor Party		49.40	+2.9	29	+11

Independent: Alexander Wilson (Wimmera, Vic)

The member for Northern Territory, Adair Blain (Independent), had voting rights only for issues relating to the Territory, and so is not included in the table.

Popular Vote

Labor			43.17%
United Australia			33.17%
Country			15.55%
Social Credit			2.20%
Independent UAP			0.71%
Independent			4.81%
Others			0.48%

Two Party Preferred Vote

Coalition			50.60%
Labor			49.40%

Parliament Seats

Coalition			58.11%
Labor			38.19%
Independent UAP			1.35%
Independent			1.35%

**Senate (P BV) — 1937–40—Turnout 94.75% (CV) — Informal 9.56%**
Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats Won	Seats Held	Change
Australian Labor Party	1,699,172	48.48	+20.40	16	16	+13
UAP/Country (Joint Ticket)	1,005,247	28.68	+10.44	0
United Australia Party	565,161	16.13	−4.54	3	16	−10
Country Party	66,481	1.90	−12.41	0	4	−3
Social Credit Party	49,801	1.42	−1.36	0	0	0
Independent	118,768	3.39	+2.93	0	0	0
Total	3,504,630			19	36

Seats changing hands

Seat	Pre-1937				Swing	Post-1937
Seat	Party		Member	Margin	Swing	Margin	Member	Party
Ballaarat, Vic		United Australia	Archibald Fisken	3.9	3.5	0.6	Reg Pollard	Labor
Bendigo, Vic		United Australia	Eric Harrison	N/A	0.3	6.9	George Rankin	Country
Grey, SA		United Australia	Philip McBride	N/A	2.9	7.1	Oliver Badman	Country
Warringah, NSW		United Australia	Archdale Parkhill	N/A	29.4	1.9	Percy Spender	Independent UAP
Wimmera, Vic		Country	Hugh McClelland	N/A	2.9	1.9	Alexander Wilson	Independent

Members in italics did not contest their seat at this election.

Notes

References

University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
Two-party-preferred vote since 1937

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Australian federal election, 1937.

Elections and referendums in Australia

Federal elections	1901 1903 1906 1910 1913 1914 1917 1919 1922 1925 1928 1929 1931 1934 1937 1940 1943 1946 1949 1951 1953 1954 1955 1958 1961 1963 1964 1966 1967 1969 1970 1972 1974 1975 1977 1980 1983 1984 1987 1990 1993 1996 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 next by-elections

Referendums	1906 1910 1911 1913 1916 1917 1919 1926 1928 1937 1944 1946 1948 1951 1967 1973 1974 1977 1984 1988 1999

Elections in: Australian Capital Territory New South Wales Northern Territory Queensland South Australia Tasmania Victoria Western Australia

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