Following the death of Curtin in July 1945, Forde became Prime Minister since he was the ALP deputy leader. In the ensuing leadership ballot, Chifley defeated Forde to replace him as Prime Minister and Curtin as leader of the ALP. Once the war ended in September, normal political life resumed, and Chifley faced Robert Menzies and his new Liberal Party in the 1946 election, which Chifley won with 54 percent of the two-party-preferred vote. It marked the first time that an incumbent full-term federal Labor government was re-elected. In the post-war years, Chifley maintained wartime economic controls, including the highly unpopular petrol rationing. He did this partly to help Britain in its postwar economic difficulties.
