Australian Senate elections

E188680

Australian Senate elections are nationwide polls held to choose members of the upper house of Australia's federal parliament, using a proportional representation voting system.

All labels observed (2)

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf election
parliamentary election
proportional representation election
administeredBy Australian Electoral Commission
ballotSecrecy secret ballot
ballotStructure candidate lists by party
individual candidates
canInclude double dissolution elections
chamberType upper house
country Australia
doubleDissolutionEffect all Senate seats contested
electionCycle half-Senate elections approximately every 3 years
electoralCommission Australian Electoral Commission
electoralFormula STV with proportional representation
electoralSystemReform 2016 Senate voting reforms
elects members of the Australian Senate
firstElectionHeld 1901
governedBy Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918
jurisdiction Commonwealth of Australia
language English
legislativeBody Senate of Australia
surface form: Australian Senate
levelOfGovernment federal
linkedTo House of Representatives elections (usually concurrent)
normalElectionEffect half of state Senate seats contested
notableFeature can result in different party control than House of Representatives
high degree of proportionality
often produce crossbench representation
partOf Australian federal elections
primaryPurpose to determine composition of the Australian Senate
region Oceania
seatsPerState 12 senators per state
seatsPerTerritory 2 senators per territory
stateConstituencies six Australian states
termLengthOfElectedMembers 6 years
territoryConstituencies Australian Capital Territory (enclaved within) (geographical context)
surface form: Australian Capital Territory

Northern Territory
territoryRepresentation all territory Senate seats contested at each federal election
totalSeatsContestedInFullSenateElection 76
usesBallotType above-the-line voting
below-the-line voting
group voting tickets (historically)
usesQuotaFormula Droop quota
voterEligibility Australian citizens aged 18 or over
votingRequirement compulsory voting
votingSystem proportional representation
single transferable vote
votingSystemFeature preferential voting
quota-based seat allocation

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (3)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Single Transferable Vote isUsedIn Australian Senate elections
Margaret Guilfoyle officeContested Australian Senate elections
this entity surface form: Australian Senate seat for Victoria
STV usedIn Australian Senate elections
subject surface form: Single Transferable Vote