1922 Australian federal election

1922 Australian federal election

← 1919 16 December 1922 (1922-12-16) 1925 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 75 seats in the House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 19 (of the 36) seats in the Senate
Registered	2,980,424 4.6%
Turnout	1,646,863 (59.36%) (16.7 pp)
First party Second party   Leader Matthew Charlton Billy Hughes Party Labor Nationalist Leader since 16 May 1922 14 November 1916 Leader's seat Hunter (NSW) won North Sydney (NSW)[a] Last election 26 seats 37 seats Seats won 29 seats 26 seats Seat change 3 11 Popular vote 665,145 553,920 Percentage 48.80% 51.20% Swing 2.90% 2.90%   Third party Fourth party   LU Leader Earle Page N/A Party Country Liberal Union Leader since 5 April 1921 N/A Leader's seat Cowper (NSW) N/A Last election 11 seats New party Seats won 14 seats 5 seats Seat change 3 5 Popular vote 197,513 73,939
Popular vote by state with graphs indicating the number of seats won. As this is an IRV election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote by state but instead via results in each electorate.
Prime Minister before election Billy Hughes Nationalist Subsequent Prime Minister Stanley Bruce Nationalist/Country coalition

The 1922 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 16 December 1922. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist Party, led by Prime Minister Billy Hughes lost its majority. However, the opposition Labor Party led by Matthew Charlton did not take office as the Nationalists sought a coalition with the fledgling Country Party led by Earle Page. The Country Party made Hughes's resignation the price for joining, and Hughes was replaced as Nationalist leader by Stanley Bruce.

Future Prime Minister Frank Forde and future opposition leader John Latham both entered parliament at this election.

At this election, Hughes as the sitting prime minister made his second seat transfer, in this case, from Bendigo to North Sydney. Hughes had held Bendigo since transferring there from West Sydney at the 1917 election also as the sitting prime minister.

Hughes remains the only sitting Prime Minister to transfer to another seat, not once but twice.

Aside from the 1917 and 1922 elections, all other elections have seen the sitting prime minister recontest the seat that they held prior to the election.

Results[]

House of Representatives[]

  Labor: 29 seats

  Nationalist: 26 seats

  Country: 14 seats

  Independent: 1 seat

  Liberal: 5 seats

House of Reps (IRV) — 1922–25—Turnout 59.36% (Non-CV) — Informal 4.51%

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	665,145	42.30	−0.19	29	+3
	Nationalist	553,920	35.23	−9.85	26	−11
	Country	197,513	12.56	+3.30	14	+3
	Liberal Union	73,939	4.70	+4.70	5	+5
	Majority Labor	10,303	0.66	+0.66	0	0
	Industrial Labor	4,331	0.28	+0.09	0	0
	Protestant Labor	3,631	0.23	+0.23	0	0
	Independents	63,712	4.05	+1.07	1	0
	Total	1,572,514			75
Two-party-preferred (estimated)
	Nationalist	Win	51.20	−2.90	40	+3
	Labor		48.80	+2.90	29	0

Notes

• Independents: William Watson (Fremantle, WA)
• Five members were elected unopposed – one Labor, two Nationalist, one Country, and one Liberal.

Senate[]

Senate (P BV) — 1922–1925—Turnout 57.99% (Non-CV) — Informal 9.44%

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held	Change
	Labor	715,219	45.70	+2.86	11	12	+11
	Nationalist	567,084	36.23	−10.16	8	24	−11
	Country	203,267	12.99	+4.20	0	0	0
	Liberal Union	43,706	2.79	+2.79	0	0	0
	Socialist Labor	8,551	0.55	+0.55	0	0	0
	Majority Labor	3,813	0.24	+0.24	0	0	0
	Independents	23,447	1.50	+0.08	0	0	0
	Total	1,565,087			19	36

Seats changing hands[]

• Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election.
• *Alexander Hay contested his seat as an independent

Post-election pendulum[]

See also[]

• Candidates of the 1922 Australian federal election
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives, 1922–1925
• Members of the Australian Senate, 1923–1926

Endnotes[]

Notes

Citations

References[]

• University of WA election results in Australia since 1890
• Two-party-preferred vote since 1919