2016 Northern Territory general election

2016 Northern Territory general election

← 2012 27 August 2016 2020 →
All 25 seats of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly 13 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	74.0 ( 2.9 pp)
First party Second party   Leader Michael Gunner Adam Giles Party Labor Country Liberal Leader since 20 April 2015 14 March 2013 Leader's seat Fannie Bay Braitling (lost seat) Last election 8 seats 16 seats Seats before 7 12 Seats won 18 2 Seat change 11 10 Popular vote 41,476 31,263 Percentage 42.2% 31.8% Swing 5.7 18.8 TPP 57.5% 42.5% TPP swing 13.3 13.3
Chief Minister before election Adam Giles Country Liberal Elected Chief Minister Michael Gunner Labor

The 2016 Northern Territory general election was held on Saturday 27 August 2016 to elect all 25 members of the Legislative Assembly in the unicameral Northern Territory Parliament.^[1]

Legislation was passed in February 2016 to change the voting method of single-member electorates from full-preferential voting to optional preferential voting.^[2] Electoral districts were redistributed in 2015. The election was conducted by the Northern Territory Electoral Commission, an independent body answerable to Parliament.

The one-term incumbent Country Liberal Party (CLP) minority government, led by Chief Minister Adam Giles, was defeated by the Opposition Labor Party, led by Opposition Leader Michael Gunner, in a landslide. The CLP suffered the worst defeat of a sitting government in the history of the Territory, and one of the worst defeats of a sitting government in Australian history. It was the first time that a sitting Northern Territory government was defeated after only one term. From 11 seats at dissolution (and 16 at the 2012 election), the CLP suffered the worst election performance in its history, winning only two seats—those of second-term MPs Gary Higgins (the only survivor of the Giles cabinet) and Lia Finocchiaro. Labor won 18 seats, in the process winning the third-largest majority government in Territory history, and the second-largest since the Territory was granted self-government in 1978. Independents won five seats. Although the independent MPs outnumbered the CLP MPs, on official advice the CLP was recognised as the official opposition.^[3]

Additionally, Giles lost his Alice Springs-based seat of Braitling to Labor, making him only the second sitting Chief Minister/Majority Leader to lose his own seat at an election. Labor also took Katherine, previously the safest seat in the Territory, off the CLP. It was the first and only election that saw Labor win seats in Katherine and inner Alice Springs.^[4]

With the overall result beyond doubt, Gunner had himself, Natasha Fyles, and Nicole Manison sworn in as an interim three-person government on 31 August until the full Gunner Ministry could be sworn in on 12 September. The CLP's two surviving MPs, Higgins and Finocchiaro, became leader and deputy leader of the CLP on 2 September.^[5][6][7]

Despite Labor's massive majority following the 2016 election, the new Labor government re-appointed CLP-turned-independent Kezia Purick as Speaker of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly for another term.^[8]