Australian federal election, 1966 Totally Explained

Everything about Australian Federal Election 1966 totally explained

Federal election major party leaders
1963 1966 1969
Liberal Harold Holt Prime Minister Parliament: 31 years Leader since: 1966 Division: Higgins WIN
Labor Arthur Calwell Opposition leader Parliament: 26 years Leader since: 1960 Division: Melbourne

Federal elections were held in Australia on 26 November 1966. All 124 seats in the House of Representatives, no Senate seats were up for election. The incumbent Liberal Party of Australia led by Prime Minister of Australia Harold Holt with coalition partner the Country Party led by John McEwen defeated the Australian Labor Party led by Arthur Calwell. The election was a landslide win to the Coalition, which won twice as many seats as the ALP. Holt’s victory was greater than any of Menzies’, and it was seen as the high point of his Prime Ministership. House of Reps (IRV) — 1966-69 — Turnout 95.13% (CV) — Informal 3.10%>

Party	Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
Liberal Party of Australia	2,291,964	40.14	+3.05	61	+9
Australian Labor Party	2,282,834	39.98	-5.49	41	-9
Country Party	561,926	9.84	+0.90	21	+1
Democratic Labor Party	417,411	7.31	-0.13	0	0
Independents	82,948	1.45	+1.04	1	+1
Other	72,666	1.27		0	0
Total	5,709,749			124	+2
Liberal/Country coalition	WIN	56.90	+4.30	82	+10
Australian Labor Party		43.10	-4.30	41	-9

Independents: Sam Benson See Australian Senate election, 1964 and Australian Senate election, 1967 for Senate compositions.

Issues

The new Prime Minister, Harold Holt, was stylish, debonair and popular with the electorate. He cast a sharp contrast with the much rougher figure of Arthur Calwell, who had already lost two elections. Calwell held to the beliefs that had been central to the last Labor Government of 1941-1949, many of which were seen as being old-fashioned in 1966. For example, he was a defender of the White Australia Policy. In addition, a strong economy and initial enthusiasm for Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War virtually guaranteed the Coalition the election. Calwell retired a month after the elections.

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