THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24410, 23 September 1940, Page 6

THE FEDERAL ELECTIONS

The result of the polling on Saturday for the election of members of the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia is not likely to be known for several days--not for several weeks in the case of the election of members of the Senate. Under the system of preference voting that is in force, entailing the need for the transference of votes from the candidates who secure the smallest number of first preference votes, until the process of elimination is completed, a candidate must have secured an overwhelming majority of the votes counted on Saturday in order that he may confidently claim to have been successful; Another factor which must delay the ascertainment of the complete result of the polling is that the votes of the Australian soldiers overseas have to be collected and recorded. It may conceivably happen, therefore, that the question whether the Ministry under Mr Menzies is to be retained in office or whether there has been a swing to the Labour Party sufficiently pronounced to require that Mr Curtin shall be afforded an opportunity of forming a Government shall not be resolved one way or the other for gbme time to come. Upon the issue that should transcend all others at the present time —the war issue—there would seem to be no serious danger of any relaxation of the war effort of Australia if the electors should declare for a change of Government. Mr Curtin's war programme presents so many points of agreement with that of the Menzies Government that his refusal to acquiesce in the proposals for the formation of a National War Government is more or less deprived of validity. Domestic politics are of very small account at a time when the Empire is engaged in a life and death struggle for its existence, but the Labour Party has deemed it expedient to include in its election manifesto promises of social benefits that are calculated to make a strong appeal to certain elements in the community. If there is to be a new Government in the Commonwealth it will in all probability be because of these promises which Mr Curtin and his followers have scattered

widely throughout the constituencies. One remarkable feature of the election, a consequence of the peculiar provisions of the Constitution as it relates to the Senate, is that the Labour Party requires to secure the return of only three of its nominees for the Upper House in order that it may possess a majority in that Chamber. The circumstance is one that is fraught with difficulty for the present Government if it should be confirmed in office.