The 1998 Federal Election is the second election this decade where the party or parties that won a majority of the two-party-preferred vote failed to win the election.
This also occurred in 1998, as well as in 1969, 1961 and 1954.
The Howard coalition government was elected with 49.02% of the two-party-preferred vote. It secured 80 of the 148 seats (54%) in the House of Representatives. Thus, its exaggerated majority is 5.03%.
The ALP secured a majority of the two-party vote in three States (NSW, Victoria & Tasmania) and both Territories. There was an overall swing to the ALP of 4.61%, the party regaining much of the 5.06% it lost in 1996.
The swing ranged from 0.94% in the Northern Territory to 7.17% in Queensland.
A measure of the electoral wipe-out the ALP suffered in 1996 can be seen by the fact that even though it secured swings of between 4 and 7 per cent in South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland, it remains the minority grouping in those States.
| Two-Party-Preferred Statistics 1998 House of Representatives – Summary |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| State | ALP Votes | ALP % | L/NP Votes | L/NP % | % Swing To ALP |
| New South Wales | 1,879,281 |
51.54
|
1,766,640 |
48.46
|
4.11
|
| Victoria | 1,521,560 |
53.53
|
1,321,121 |
46.47
|
3.22
|
| Queensland | 935,867 |
46.95
|
1,057,508 |
53.05
|
7.17
|
| Western Australia | 515,733 |
49.46
|
527,042 |
50.54
|
5.46
|
| South Australia | 434,189 |
46.89
|
491,802 |
53.11
|
4.15
|
| Tasmania | 176,241 |
57.32
|
131,236 |
42.68
|
5.74
|
| Australian Capital Territory | 121,552 |
62.44
|
73,131 |
37.56
|
6.98
|
| Northern Territory | 45,986 |
50.57
|
44,951 |
49.43
|
0.94
|
| Total | 5,630,409 |
50.98
|
5,413,431 |
49.02
|
4.61
|
Source: Australian Electoral Commission publications
