Elections were held in the Australian state of Victoria on 15 July 1961 to elect the 66 members of the state's Legislative Assembly and 17 members of the 34-member Legislative Council. MLAs were elected for three year terms and MLCs were elected for six year terms. All were elected in single-member districts or provinces using preferential voting.
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All 66 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly 34 seats needed for a majority and 17 (of the 34) seats in the Victorian Legislative Council | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Liberal and Country Party (LCP) government of Premier Henry Bolte won a third term in office. It was the first Victorian election at which all seats in both houses were contested by at least two candidates, and the first at which both houses were contested on the same day.
Key dates
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 24 May 1961 | The Parliament was prorogued.[1] |
| 1 June 1961 | Writs were issued by the Administrator to proceed with an election.[2] |
| 23 June 1961 | Close of nominations. |
| 15 July 1961 | Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. |
| 28 July 1961 | The Bolte Ministry was reconstituted, with two new ministers sworn in.[3] |
| 1 August 1961 | The writ was returned and the results formally declared. |
| 1 August 1961 | Parliament resumed for business.[4] |
Results
Legislative Assembly
The election produced almost no change in the electoral balance.
Victorian state election, 15 July 1961[5] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enrolled voters | 1,554,856 | |||||
| Votes cast | 1,554,856 | Turnout | 94.41 | +0.18 | ||
| Informal votes | 35,937 | Informal | 2.45 | +0.67 | ||
| Summary of votes by party | ||||||
| Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
| Labor | 552,015 | 38.55 | +0.86 | 17 | – 1 | |
| Liberal and Country | 521,777 | 36.44 | –0.74 | 39 | ± 0 | |
| Democratic Labor | 242,753 | 16.95 | +2.53 | 0 | ± 0 | |
| Country | 102,184 | 7.14 | –2.16 | 9 | ± 0 | |
| Other | 3,722 | 0.26 | +0.16 | 0 | ± 0 | |
| Independent | 9,474 | 0.66 | –0.64 | 1 | + 1 | |
| Total | 1,431,925 | 66 | ||||
| Two-party-preferred | ||||||
| Liberal and Country | 829,977 | 57.9 | +0.1 | |||
| Labor | 602,493 | 42.1 | –0.1 | |||
Legislative Council
Victorian state election, 15 July 1961[6] | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enrolled voters | 1,554,856 | |||||
| Votes cast | 1,467,482 | Turnout | 94.3 | +8.0 | ||
| Informal votes | 46,697 | Informal | 3.2 | +1.5 | ||
| Summary of votes by party | ||||||
| Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats won | Seats held | |
| Labor | 552,075 | 38.9 | –0.3 | 4 | 9 | |
| Liberal and Country | 538,013 | 37.9 | +2.1 | 9 | 17 | |
| Democratic Labor | 237,464 | 16.7 | +1.8 | 0 | 0 | |
| Country | 88,416 | 6.2 | +0.7 | 4 | 8 | |
| Independent | 4,817 | 0.3 | +0.3 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 1,420,785 | 17 | 34 | |||
Seats changing hands
| Seat | Pre-1961 | Swing | Post-1961 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Member | Margin | Margin | Member | Party | ||||
| Moorabbin | Liberal and Country | Bob Suggett | 9.4 | N/A | 8.7 | Bob Suggett | Independent Liberal | ||
| Oakleigh | Labor | Val Doube | 1.8 | -4.2 | 2.5 | Alan Scanlan | Liberal and Country | ||
- In addition, the LCP retained the seat of Ballarat North which it had won from the Country party at the 1960 by-election.