1940 Australian federal election
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All 75 seats of the House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 19 (of the 36) seats of the Senate | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Registered | 4,239,346 3.90% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Turnout | 3,979,009 (94.82%) (1.31 pp) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1940 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 21 September 1940. All 74 seats in the House of Representatives and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Coalition, consisting of the United Australia Party led by Prime Minister Robert Menzies and the Country Party led by Archie Cameron, defeated the opposition Labor Party under John Curtin despite losing the overall popular vote.
The Coalition won 36 seats, two short of a majority, but formed a government on 28 October 1940 with the support of both independent crossbenchers, Alexander Wilson and Arthur Coles. The four MPs elected to Lang Labor's successor, the Australian Labor Party (Non-Communist), officially re-joined the ALP just months after the election in February 1941, bringing the ALP to 36 seats. The UAP–Country minority government lasted only until October 1941, when the two independents crossed the floor and allowed the ALP to form a minority government with Curtin as prime minister. It remains the only time since the 1910 introduction of the two-party system where the government has changed as the result of a parliamentary confidence vote.
Future opposition leaders H.V. Evatt and Arthur Calwell both entered parliament at this election.