The 1990 Federal Election joins a select list of federal elections where the party or parties that won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote failed to win the election.
The other elections were 1998, 1969, 1961 and 1954.
The Hawke Labor government was elected with 49.90% of the two-party-preferred vote. It secured 78 of the 148 seats (52.70%) in the House of Representatives. Thus, its exaggerated majority is 2.8%.
The ALP secured a majority of the two-party vote in two States (NSW & Queensland) and both Territories. There was an overall swing against the ALP of 0.9%.
| Two-Party-Preferred Statistics 1990 House of Representatives – Summary |
||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | ALP Votes | ALP % | L/NP Votes | L/NP % | Total Votes | Exhausted Votes |
| New South Wales | 1,744,666 |
52.13
|
1,601,846 |
47.87
|
3,346,512 | 8,159 |
| Victoria | 1,216,633 |
47.46
|
1,347,048 |
52.54
|
2,563,681 | 3,449 |
| Queensland | 837,508 |
50.19
|
831,015 |
49.81
|
1,668,523 | 3,074 |
| Western Australia | 420,816 |
47.13
|
472,092 |
52.87
|
892,908 | 1,791 |
| South Australia | 441,659 |
49.50
|
450,503 |
50.50
|
892,162 | 1,592 |
| Tasmania | 138,556 |
47.90
|
150,709 |
52.10
|
289,265 | 239 |
| Australian Capital Territory | 93,498 |
58.54
|
66,206 |
41.46
|
159,704 | 358 |
| Northern Territory | 37,498 |
55.02
|
30,650 |
44.98
|
68,148 | 109 |
| Australia | 4,930,834 |
49.90
|
4,950,069 |
50.10
|
9,880,903 | 18,771 |
Source: Australian Electoral Commission publications
