1917 Australian federal election

The 1917 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 5 May 1917. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives and 18 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Nationalist Party, led by Prime Minister Billy Hughes, defeated the opposition Labor Party led by Frank Tudor in a landslide.

1917 Australian federal election

5 May 1917 (1917-05-05)
All 75 seats in the House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 18 (of the 36) seats in the Senate
First party Second party   Leader Billy Hughes Frank Tudor Party Nationalist Labor Leader since 17 February 1917 14 November 1916 Leader's seat West Sydney (NSW) won Bendigo (Vic.) Yarra (Vic.) Last election N/A 42 seats Seats won 53 seats 22 seats Seat change 21 20 Popular vote 1,021,138 827,541 Percentage 54.22% 43.94% Swing N/A 6.96%
Popular vote by state with graphs indicating the number of seats won. As this is an FPTP election, seat totals are not determined by popular vote by state but instead via results in each electorate.
Prime Minister before election Billy Hughes Nationalist Subsequent Prime Minister Billy Hughes Nationalist

Hughes, at the time a member of the ALP, had become prime minister when Andrew Fisher retired in 1915. The Australian Labor Party split of 1916 over the conscription issue had led Hughes and 24 other pro-conscription Labor MPs to split off as the National Labor Party, which was able to form a minority government supported by the Commonwealth Liberal Party under Joseph Cook. Later that year, National Labor and the Liberals merged to form the Nationalist Party, with Hughes as leader and Cook as deputy leader. The election was fought in the aftermath of the 1916 plebiscite on conscription, which had been narrowly defeated. The Nationalists won a decisive victory, securing the largest majority government since Federation. The ALP suffered a large electoral swing against it, losing almost seven percent of its vote from 1914. The swing was magnified by the large number of former Labor MPs who followed Hughes out of the party. This election would be the last federal election using the first past the post election system as Australia switched to the preferential voting system in 1919.