SENATE POLL IN AUSTRALIA

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27035, 9 May 1953, Page 7

SENATE POLL IN AUSTRALIA

Labour Expected To Gain Ground (Rec. 10 p.m.) SYDNEY, May 8. More than 5,000,000 Australians will go to the polls tomorrow to elect 32 senators. The Senate comprises 60 members, and normally half this number retires every three years. This year, however, two additional senators have to be elected to replace two men who have died. Thus five senators will be returned in each of four States and six in two other States. Political observers say that Labour is likely to gain ground and that after tomorrow an evenly-divided Senate is a strong possibility. Th 4 Liberal-Country Party coalition at present has a 32-28 advantage in the Senate. Both the Government and the Opposition party leaders have expressed confidence in the outcome of the poll. The Commonwealth Electoral Officer (Mr H. J. Martin) said 5,065,930 persons were eligible to vote. Voting is compulsory. Although Mr Martin expects that nearly 90 per cent, of the votes cast will be counted tomorrow night, at least a fortnight will elapse before the official results will be known. This delay is inevitable because of the requirements and complexities of the proportional system of voting. If there is a pronounced swing towards either party, it will be possible to indicate the successful candidates within a few hours of the closure of the polls, but if voting is even it will be weeks before the last senator in each State is known. In Queensland, Western Australia, and South Australia, counting is likely to be slow because of the scattered and remote electorates. The total formal votes polled in each State must be known before the proportional system can be applied.