At stake in this election:

• 40 seats in the Senate

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: Queen ELIZABETH II *
• Head of Government: Prime Minister John Winston HOWARD
• Assembly: Australia has a bicameral Federal Parliament consisting of the Senate with 76 seats and the House of Representatives with 150 seats.

* Queen Elizabeth II is represented by Governor-General Dr. Peter HOLLINGWORTH

Description of electoral system:

• The Queen is N/A N/A.
• Prime Minister is elected by parliament.
• In the Senate 76 members are elected through a single transferable vote (STV) proportional representation system to serve 6-year terms*. In the House of Representatives 148 members are elected through an alternative voting system to serve 3-year terms.**

* 72 members of the Senate represent the Federal States (12 per each of the six states) and serve six-year terms, with half of these seats renewed every three years. The four remaining members of the Senate represent the two Federal Territories. Parties present a Group Voting Ticket, which displays their slate of candidates and appears below a box with their party name. Electors can cast a ballot in two ways. The first method is by marking a "1" in a party's box indicating which Group Voting Ticket they wish to vote for. These votes are counted as if the elector had voted in the order of the list that the party presented. Additionally, electors may choose to rank candidates individually, from one to as many candidates as are on the ballot. If electors choose to do this, they must rank every candidate or their ballot will be considered invalid. Senate candidates must meet a certain quota of votes to be elected. This quota is calculated as the number of formal votes cast divided by the number of open seats plus one. After counting all first preference votes, candidates who meet the quota are declared winners and their surplus votes are reallocated via a fractional transfer.

** Members are elected in 148 single-member constituencies spread among the 6 states and 2 territories of Australia according to population. If electors do not rank every candidate on the ballot their ballot is considered invalid. Voting is compulsory

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Party: Liberal Party of Australia (LP)
  • Leader: John Winston HOWARD
  • Seats won in this Senate election: 12
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 16
• Party: Australian Labor Party (ALP)
  • Leader: Kim BEAZLEY
  • Seats won in this Senate election: 14
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 17
• Party: Australian Democrats (AD)
  • Leader: Natasha STOTT DESPOJA
  • Seats won in this Senate election: 4
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 4
• Party: Australian Greens
  • Leader: Bob BROWN
  • Seats won in this Senate election: 2
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 0
• Party: National Party of Australia (NP)
  • Leader: John Duncan ANDERSON
  • Seats won in this Senate election: 1
  • Seats won in last Senate election: 1

Last Parliamentary election:

• Elections to the Federal Parliament were last held on October 3, 1998.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 19,357,594 (July 2001 est.)
• Registered Voters: 12,636,631 (November 2001 )

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 9,727,463 (2001)

·         Is Australia a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)

·         Has Australia ratified CEDAW: Yes (28 July 1983)

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 38 (House of Representatives); 23 (Senate) (as of 2001 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 2 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is Australia a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)

·         Has Australia ratified CRPD: Yes (17 July 2008)

·         Population with a disability: 2,903,639 (est.)