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1968 Higgins by-election

Australian federal by-election

Field	Value
election_name	1968 Higgins by-election
country	Australia
type	Parliamentary
ongoing	no
previous_election	1966 Australian federal election
previous_year	1966
election_date	24 February 1968
next_election	1969 Australian federal election
next_year	1969
turnout	35,158 (84.87%)
seats_for_election	Division of Higgins in the House of Representatives
candidate1	John Gorton
image1	[[File:JohnGorton1968.jpg	x150px]]
party1	Liberal Party of Australia
popular_vote1	24,067
percentage1	69.40%
swing1	6.12
candidate2	David Bennett
image2	[[File:No image.png	100px]]
party2	Australian Labor Party
popular_vote2	9,601
percentage2	27.69%
swing2	2.53
title	MP
before_election	Harold Holt
before_party	Liberal Party of Australia
after_election	John Gorton
after_party	Liberal Party of Australia

A by-election was held for the Australian House of Representatives seat of Higgins on 24 February 1968. It was triggered by the presumed drowning death of the Prime Minister and Liberal Party MP Harold Holt on 17 December 1967.

Background

On 15 January 1968, Speaker William Aston stated that there was conclusive evidence that Holt had died, and that a writ would be issued for the by-election. Senator John Gorton, who had been elected party leader and prime minister by his party colleagues on 9 January, was preselected unopposed to run for the Liberal Party on 31 January. The Australian Labor Party nominated David Bennett, a research officer with the Australian Council for Educational Research, whilst the Democratic Labor Party, who had received 11.56% of the vote at the November 1966 election in the seat, opted not to contest the election. The other two candidates were Dr Leonard Webber for the Australia Reform Movement, and a Sydney journalist, Frank Courtis.

Gorton won the by-election for the Liberals with an increased primary vote.

It remains the only time in which a sitting prime minister was a candidate in a by-election.

Results

| access-date=26 October 2009 | archive-date=29 May 2012 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120529205051/http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/1966/1966repsby.txt | url-status=dead

References

Hughes, Colin. (August 1968). "Australian Political Chronicle: January–April 1968". Australian Journal of Politics and History.

Info: Wikipedia Source

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