The incumbent first-term Australian Labor Party (ALP) government led by Prime Minister James Scullin was defeated in a landslide by the United Australia Party (UAP) led by Joseph Lyons.

The two Labor factions were decimated; massive vote-splitting left them with only 18 seats between them (14 for the official ALP and four for the Langites).

The two parties campaigned separately and stood candidates against each other in the House of Representatives, but ran joint tickets in Senate.

Page was still willing to form a coalition with the Country Party, but negotiations broke down and Lyons decided the UAP would govern by itself.

However, the presence of Lyons and other ex-Labor MPs allowed the party to project an image of national unity.