electionstracker

Australia 1961 federal election

What was the result of the 1961 federal election in Australia?

Australian Labor Party won 62 of 124 seats with 48.0% of the vote. 95.2% 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 62 of 124 seats with 48.0% of the vote; 95.2% of registered voters cast a ballot, down 0.2 points on 1958.

  • Australian Labor Party 62 +15 seats 48.0% +5.1 points
  • Liberal Party of Australia 45 −13 seats 33.5% −3.6 points
  • Democratic Labour Party 0 0 seats 8.7% −0.7 points
  • National (Country) Party / National Party of Australia 17 −2 seats 8.5% −0.8 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 1958 federal election, party by party.

63 of 124 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 48.0%

    Share of the vote won by Australian Labor Party

    Australian Labor Party won 62 of 124 seats. A majority needs 63.

  2. +15 seats

    Seats gained by Australian Labor Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1958. Liberal Party of Australia lost 13 seats.

  3. 95.2%

    Voter turnout

    Down 0.2 points on 1958.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Australian Labor Party62+1548.0+5.12,534,702
Liberal Party of Australia45−1333.5−3.61,771,001
Democratic Labour Party008.7−0.7456,962
National (Country) Party / National Party of Australia17−28.5−0.8446,475
Independents001.4+0.172,397

± is the change against the Australia 1958 federal election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Australian Labor Party 2,534,702
  • Liberal Party of Australia 1,771,001
  • Democratic Labour Party 456,962
  • National (Country) Party / National Party of Australia 446,475
  • Independents 72,397

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?

95.2% of the 5,692,364 registered voters cast a ballot (5,420,548 ballots), down 0.2 points on 1958. 5,281,537 of them were valid votes.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Australian Labor Party48.0% of votes50.0% of seats
  • Liberal Party of Australia33.5% of votes36.3% of seats
  • National (Country) Party / National Party of Australia8.5% of votes13.7% of seats
  • Democratic Labour Party8.7% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 7.6 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); Australian Labor Party led Liberal Party of Australia by 14.5 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of