electionstracker

Australia 1983 federal election

What was the result of the 1983 federal election in Australia?

Australian Labor Party won 75 of 125 seats with 49.5% of the vote. 94.6% 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 75 of 125 seats with 49.5% of the vote; 94.6% of registered voters cast a ballot, up 0.3 points on 1980.

  • Australian Labor Party 75 +24 seats 49.5% +4.4 points
  • Liberal Party of Australia 33 −21 seats 34.4% −3.0 points
  • National (Country) Party / National Party of Australia 17 −3 seats 9.0% +0.1 points
  • Australian Democrats 0 0 seats 5.0% −1.6 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 1980 federal election, party by party.

63 of 125 seats make a majority

Key numbers

  1. 49.5%

    Share of the vote won by Australian Labor Party

    Australian Labor Party won 75 of 125 seats. A majority needs 63.

  2. +24 seats

    Seats gained by Australian Labor Party

    The largest gain in seats compared with 1980. Liberal Party of Australia lost 21 seats.

  3. 94.6%

    Voter turnout

    Up 0.3 points on 1980.

Seats and votes by party

PartySeats± seats%± pointsVotes
Australian Labor Party75+2449.5+4.44,297,392
Liberal Party of Australia33−2134.4−3.02,983,986
National (Country) Party / National Party of Australia17−39.0+0.1779,130
Australian Democrats005.0−1.6437,265
Independents001.70.0149,293

± is the change against the Australia 1980 federal election, party by party.

Votes by party
  • Australian Labor Party 4,297,392
  • Liberal Party of Australia 2,983,986
  • National (Country) Party / National Party of Australia 779,130
  • Australian Democrats 437,265
  • Independents 149,293

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?

94.6% of the 9,372,064 registered voters cast a ballot (8,870,175 ballots), up 0.3 points on 1980. 8,684,863 of them were valid votes.

How do the votes compare with the seats?

  • Australian Labor Party49.5% of votes60.0% of seats
  • Liberal Party of Australia34.4% of votes26.4% of seats
  • National (Country) Party / National Party of Australia9.0% of votes13.6% of seats
  • Australian Democrats5.0% of votes0.0% of seats
Each party's share of the vote (outlined) and of the seats (filled)

The Gallagher index of disproportionality is 10.6 (0 when seats follow votes exactly); the effective number of parties is 2.7 by votes and 2.2 by seats; Australian Labor Party led Liberal Party of Australia by 15.1 points of the vote.

Time and source Data as of