During the period 1949 to 2004, there have been 23 general elections for the House of Representatives and 22 Senate elections. Gerard Newman provides a summary of each election, together with tables summarising the results in each state and territory. A brief commentary on each election is also provided.

In the lead-up to Western Australia's state election on 26 February, Peter van Onselen examines questions regarding the state's electoral process. Issues addressed include malapportionment, prisoner voting, public funding and media coverage.

Will Sanders examines elections for the 18 local governments in the Torres Strait in both 2000 and 2004, focusing on changes in political leadership and a possible emerging change in political style in Torres Strait.

Australia's political parties proved they were not too set in their ways to learn a few new tricks - or at least a few new campaign techniques - for the 2004 federal election on 9 October 2004. With opinion polls predicting a tight race and political commentators alleging that there were large numbers of undecided...

In this research brief Scott Bennett analyses the 55th US presidential election held on 2 November 2004. This report includes a brief examination of key voting groups and post-election challenges to the result.