2016 Australian Capital Territory general election

2016 Australian Capital Territory general election
← 2012 15 October 2016 2020 →
All 25 seats of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly
13 seats needed for a majority
Turnout88.5 (Decrease 0.9 pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Leader Andrew Barr Jeremy Hanson Shane Rattenbury
Party Labor Liberal Greens
Leader since 11 December 2014 11 February 2013 20 October 2012
Leader's seat Kurrajong Murrumbidgee Kurrajong
Last election 8 seats, 38.9% 8 seats, 38.9% 1 seat, 10.7%
Seats won 12 11 2
Seat change Increase 4 Increase 3 Increase 1
Popular vote 93,811 89,632 25,096
Percentage 38.4% 36.7% 10.3%
Swing Decrease 0.5 Decrease 2.2 Decrease 0.5
Winning party seats by division for the Legislative Assembly.
Chief Minister before election

Andrew Barr
Labor–Greens Coalition

Elected Chief Minister

Andrew Barr
Labor–Greens Coalition

A general election for the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly was held on Saturday, 15 October 2016.[1]

The 15-year incumbent Labor Party, led by Chief Minister Andrew Barr, won a fifth term over the main opposition Liberal Party, led by opposition leader Jeremy Hanson. On election night, ABC analyst Antony Green predicted that Labor would once again form a minority government with the support of the Greens, with Liberal leader Hanson saying in a speech it would be very difficult for the Liberals to win government.[2] On 22 October, the final list of elected candidates was confirmed; the Labor Party winning 12 seats, the Liberal Party 11 seats and the Greens 2 seats.[3] Labor and the Greens subsequently signed off on a formal Parliamentary Agreement, which outlined shared policy priorities and allowed Greens leader Shane Rattenbury to retain a seat in the Cabinet whilst mandating that the Greens not move or support any motion of no confidence in the Labor Government, except in instances of gross misconduct or corruption.[4][5]

Prior to this election, candidates were elected to fill all 17 Legislative Assembly seats in the unicameral parliament which consisted of three multi-member electorates, Brindabella (five seats), Ginninderra (five seats) and Molonglo (seven seats), using a proportional representation single transferable vote method known as the Hare-Clark system. On 5 August 2014, the Assembly voted to increase the size of the Assembly to 25 members, elected from five electorates of five seats each. The Hare-Clark system continued.[6] The election was conducted by the ACT Electoral Commission.

Of the 25 elected members, 13 were women, representing the first female parliamentary majority in Australian history.[7]

  1. ^ Commonwealth Parliament. "Australian elections timetable". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 21 December 2022.
  2. ^ "ACT election: Labor Chief Minister Andrew Barr claims victory, says Canberra has voted for light rail". ABC News. 15 October 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2016.
  3. ^ "ACT election final tally announced; Labor holds lead over Liberals". ABC News. 22 October 2016.
  4. ^ "Labor and Greens hammer out deal to see Shane Rattenbury in Cabinet, Joy Burch as Speaker". Canberra Times. 30 October 2016.
  5. ^ "Full Text of the Parliamentary Agreement for the 9th Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory". ABC News. 30 October 2016.
  6. ^ "ACT Legislative Assembly votes to increase the size of the Assembly to 25 members from the 2016 election". ACT Electoral Commission. 6 January 2015.
  7. ^ "ACT achieves 'first ever female majority' in parliament as ninth Assembly sworn in". Canberra Times. 31 October 2016.