1983 election: While an election was not due for seven more months, Malcolm Fraser had been emboldened by the unexpected victory in a 1982 by election which his Liberal Party was expected to lose. Fraser also sought to exploit divisions in the opposition Labor Party, and was surprised to learn that the popular Bob Hawke had won the Labor Party leadership on the day he sought a dissolution. Ultimately, Labor won power and defeated the Fraser government on a 24-seat swing—the largest defeat of a sitting government since 1949, and the worst defeat a sitting non-Labor government has ever suffered.