1903 Australian federal election

1903 Australian federal election

← 1901 16 December 1903 (1903-12-16) 1906 →
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All 75 seats in the House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority in the House 19 (of the 36) seats in the Senate
Registered	1,893,586 93.62%
Turnout	739,402 (39.05%)[a] (12.34 pp)
First party Second party   Leader Alfred Deakin George Reid Party Protectionist Free Trade Leader since 24 September 1903 (1903-09-24) 11 May 1901 Leader's seat Ballaarat (Vic.) East Sydney (NSW) Last election 32 seats 25 seats Seats won 26 seats 24 seats Seat change 6 1 Popular vote 210,738 228,721 Percentage 29.23% 31.73 Swing 1.71% 1.48%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Chris Watson William McWilliams Party Labor Revenue Tariff Leader since 20 May 1901 1903 Leader's seat Bland (NSW) Franklin (Tas.) Last election 16 seats New party Seats won 22 seats 1 seat Seat change 6 1 Popular vote 214,713 3,546 Percentage 29.78% 0.49% Swing 11.53% 0.49%
Results by division for the House of Representatives, shaded by winning party's margin of victory.
Prime Minister before election Alfred Deakin Protectionist Subsequent Prime Minister Alfred Deakin Protectionist

The 1903 Australian federal election was held in Australia on 16 December 1903. All 75 seats in the House of Representatives, and 19 of the 36 seats in the Senate were up for election. The incumbent Protectionist Party minority government led by Prime Minister Alfred Deakin retained the most House of Representatives seats of the three parties and retained government with the parliamentary support of the Labour Party led by Chris Watson. The Free Trade Party led by George Reid remained in opposition.

The election outcome saw a finely balanced House of Representatives, with the three parties each holding around a third of seats − the Protectionists on 26, the Free Traders on 24 and Labour on 22. This term of parliament saw no changes in any party leadership but did see very significant and prolonged debates on contentious issues − the Protectionist minority government fell in April 1904 to Labour, while the Labour minority government fell in August 1904 to the Free Traders, while the Free Trader minority government fell in July 1905 back to the Protectionists, which continued until the 1906 election and beyond. The Free Traders remained in opposition throughout this eventful period with the exception of Labour forming the opposition for the first time during the period of the Free Trader minority government. Additionally, the Watson government was the world's first Labour Party government at a national level.

Despite a break in prime ministerships in 1904-1905 and 1908–1909, this is the first of three consecutive elections in which Deakin was the sitting prime minister.
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