electionstracker

Australia 1951 federal election

What was the result of the 1951 federal election in Australia?

Australian Labor Party won 54 of 123 seats with 47.7% of the vote. 93.8% of registered voters cast a ballot.

  • Australia
  • Held:
  • Final result
  • ParlGov, read 5 October 2026

Which party won the most seats?

Final results from ParlGov, read : Australian Labor Party won 54 of 123 seats with 47.7% of the vote; 93.8% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 2.2 points on 1949.

  • Australian Labor Party 54 +6 seats 47.7% +1.7 points
  • Liberal Party of Australia 52 −3 seats 40.5% +1.2 points
  • National (Country) Party / National Party of Australia 17 −2 seats 9.7% −1.1 points
  • Seats won
  • Change on the previous election at the right
  • Share of the vote
  • Share at the previous election
  • Change in points at the right

Changes are against the Australia 1949 federal election, party by party.

62 of 123 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 47.7%

    Share of the vote won by Australian Labor Party

    Australian Labor Party won 54 of 123 seats. A majority needs 62.

  2. +6 seats

    Seats gained by Australian Labor Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1949. Liberal Party of Australia lost 3 seats.

  3. 93.8%

    Voter turnout

    Down 2.2 points on 1949.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Australian Labor Party54+647.7+1.72,183,958
Liberal Party of Australia52−340.5+1.21,857,086
National (Country) Party / National Party of Australia17−29.7−1.1444,798
Independents0−12.1−1.896,902

± is the change against the Australia 1949 federal election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Australian Labor Party 2,183,958
  • Liberal Party of Australia 1,857,086
  • National (Country) Party / National Party of Australia 444,798
  • Independents 96,902

ParlGov lists parties with at least 1 percent of the vote or 2 seats, so the rows do not add up to the valid votes.

How many people voted?

93.8% of the 4,981,965 registered voters cast a ballot (4,671,415 ballots), down 2.2 points on 1949. 4,582,744 of them were valid votes.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Australian Labor Party47.7% of votes43.9% of seats
  • Liberal Party of Australia40.5% of votes42.3% of seats
  • National (Country) Party / National Party of Australia9.7% of votes13.8% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 4.4 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.5 by votes and 2.6 by seats; Australian Labor Party led Liberal Party of Australia by 7.2 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of