Deputy Prime Minister of Australia accepted the view put to him by McEwen that to commission a Liberal temporarily as Prime Minister would give that person an unfair advantage in the forthcoming party room ballot for the permanent leader. McEwen's appointment was in keeping with the previous occasion when the main non-Labor party was without a leader; Earle Page of the Country Party was interim Prime Minister between 7 and 26 April 1939—the period between Joseph Lyons' sudden death and the United Australia Party naming Robert Menzies his successor. Since 1968 only two Deputy Prime Ministers have gone on to become Prime Minister: Paul Keating
Deputy Prime Minister of Yugoslavia Deputy Prime Minister of Yugoslavia The Deputy Prime Minister of Yugoslavia was the official Deputy of the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, SFR Yugoslavia and later Prime Minister of FR Yugoslavia, from 1939 until 2003. The office of the Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was established on 26 August 1939, during the government of Dragiša Cvetković. It was initially held by Vladko Maček. The office of the Deputy Prime Minister of SFR Yugoslavia was established on 2 February 1946, during the government of Josip Broz Tito. It was initially held by two people: Edvard Kardelj