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Federal elections for the inaugural Parliament of Australia were held in Australia on Friday 29 March and Saturday 30 March 1901 following Federation and the establishment of the Commonwealth of Australia. The first Prime Minister of Australia, Edmund Barton, contested the inaugural 1901 federal election as head of a caretaker Protectionist Party federal government. No party won a majority, however the incumbent Barton Protectionist government was supported by the Australian Labor Party, against the opposition Free Trade Party. Independents: Alexander Paterson (Capricornia, Qld), James Wilkinson (Moreton, Qld) == Background == Following the federation of the colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia on 1 January 1901 to form the Commonwealth of Australia, an election was announced for Friday 29 March (in Western Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and Tasmania) and Saturday 30 March 1901 (in South Australia and Queensland) to elect the inaugural members of federal parliament. The 1901 election was the only one of two occasions in Australia's history that the entire country did not go to the polls on the same day in a general election, the second occasion being the 1993 "supplementary election" in the Division of Dickson. This election was also the only time that an election or any part thereof was held on a day other than a Saturday. In what would later be known as the Hopetoun Blunder, in December 1900 the Governor-General, the 7th Earl of Hopetoun commissioned Sir William Lyne, the Premier of the senior state, New South Wales, to form the first Commonwealth Government from 1 January 1901. This would be conducted on a caretaker basis in the absence of a parliament. Lyne was unpopular and proved unable to gain support, so he returned his commission. Edmund Barton was then called upon to form a government. Barton was sworn in as the inaugural Prime Minister, and his cabinet contested the poll as the incumbent government. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Australian federal election, 1901」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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