Half-senate elections were held in Australia on 9 May 1953. 32 of the seats in the Senate were up for election. This was the first time a Senate election had been held without an accompanying election of the House of Representatives. The two election cycles fell out of synchronisation after the 1951 double dissolution. While the term of the House was not due to expire until 1954, a Senate election was due by 1 July 1953.
Although the Australian Labor Party won a majority of the contested seats, the Liberal-Country Coalition retained a majority of the overall seats in the upper house. + Senate (STV) – 1953–55—Turnout 94.93% (CV) – Informal 4.56% Party Votes % Swing Seats won Seats held Change Labor 2,323,968 50.61 +4.74 17 29 +1 Liberal–Country coalition 2,039,938 44.43 –5.27 15 31 –1 Liberal–Country joint ticket 1,214,285 26.45 8 N/A N/A Liberal 825,653 17.98 +11.81 7 26 0 Country N/A N/A N/A N/A 5 –1 Communist 140,073 3.05 +0.94 0 0 0 Democratic 40,109 0.87 +0.87 0 0 0 Henry George Justice 13,590 0.30 +0.16 0 0 0 Tasmanian Labour Group 8,990 0.20 +0.20 0 0 0 Independents 24,921 0.54 +0.03 0 0 0 Total 4,591,589 32 60
See also
Candidates of the Australian Senate election, 1953 Members of the Australian Senate, 1953–1956
References
University of WA election results in Australia since 1890 Adam Carr's Election Archive - Senate 1953