THE AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL-ELECTION OF 1993

To the surprise of many, the Australian Labor Party won a record fifth consecutive federal election on 13 March 1993. Labor had just scraped home in the previous election, three years earlier. Since then the Australian economy had experienced a recession and unemployment had risen above 11 per cent, a level unprecedented since the Great Depression. The most successful leader in the party's history, Bob Hawke, had been replaced by the less popular Paul Keating and after ten years in office the government was beginning to look tired and short of fresh ideas to deal with difficult social and economic circumstances. Yet, Labor's primary vote in the election improved substantially and it ultimately won with an increased majority of seats, despite a number of very close results in individual constituencies which meant the final parliamentary majority was not certain for sometime after the election. © 1993.