SOURCES OF ELECTORAL SUPPORT FOR THE AUSTRALIAN DEMOCRATS IN THE HOUSE-OF-REPRESENTATIVES AND SENATE ELECTIONS OF 1990 AND 1993 - A COMPARATIVE-ANALYSIS

Election to the Australian Senate under proportional voting and statew ide quotas gives to minor parties of the political centre a chance to win parliamentary representation otherwise denied them in the single m ember constituency-based House of Representatives. Focusing on the Aus tralian Democrats, vote splitting in the context of consistently highe r levels of support for the Democrats in the upper house provides some evidence of differences among sources of electoral support between Ho use and Senate, but within a context of general similarity of voter be haviour. Findings support a view that, as a party of 'concerns' rather than ideology, with a highly unstable support base, the future of the Democrats as other than a focus for protest must remain in doubt.