1977 Australian federal election

1977 Australian federal election

10 December 1977

All 124 seats in the House of Representatives
63 seats needed for a majority
34 of 64 seats in the Senate
Registered8,548,779 3.47%
Turnout8,127,762 (95.08%)
(0.31 pp)
  First party Second party
 
Leader Malcolm Fraser Gough Whitlam
Party Liberal–National Country Coalition Labor
Leader since 21 March 1975 8 February 1967
Leader's seat Wannon (Vic.) Werriwa (NSW)
Last election 91 seats 36 seats
Seats won 86 seats 38 seats
Seat change 5 2
Primary vote 3,811,340 3,141,051
Percentage 48.11% 39.65%
Swing 4.95 3.20
TPP 54.60% 45.40%
TPP swing 1.10 1.10

Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory.

Prime Minister before election

Malcolm Fraser
Liberal–NCP Coalition

Subsequent Prime Minister

Malcolm Fraser
Liberal–NCP Coalition

A federal election was held on 10 December 1977 to elect members of the 31st Parliament of Australia. All 124 seats in the House of Representatives were up for election, along with 34 of the 64 seats in the Senate. The incumbent Coalition government, led by Malcolm Fraser, was re-elected, defeating the Labor Party led by Opposition Leader Gough Whitlam.

While the Coalition suffered a five-seat swing, it still had a substantial 48-seat majority in the House. The Liberals retained an outright majority, with 67 seats. Although Fraser thus had no need for the support of the National Country Party, the Coalition was retained. Whitlam became the first and only person to contest four federal elections as leader of the Opposition. He was unable to recover much of the ground Labor had lost in its severe defeat two years prior, and resigned as leader shortly after the election.