A general election for the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly was held on Saturday, 15 October 2016. 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. 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 Greens may refer to: *Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc. Politics Supranational * Green politics * Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics * Global Greens * Europ ...

2 seats. 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 Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

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. 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. The election was conducted by the

ACT Electoral Commission The Australian Capital Territory Electoral Commission, branded Elections ACT, is the agency of the Government of the Australian Capital Territory with responsibility for the conduct of elections and referendums for the unicameral ACT Legislative ...

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

Results

Primary vote by electorate

Final distribution of seats

Key dates

*Last day to lodge applications for party register: 30 June 2016 *Party registration closed: 8 September 2016 *Pre-election period commenced and nominations opened: 9 September 2016 *

Rolls Roll or Rolls may refer to: Movement about the longitudinal axis * Roll angle (or roll rotation), one of the 3 angular degrees of freedom of any stiff body (for example a vehicle), describing motion about the longitudinal axis ** Roll (aviation), ...

close: 16 September 2016 *Nominations close: 21 September 2016 *Nominations declared and ballot paper order determined: 22 September 2016 *Pre-poll voting commences: 27 September 2016 *Polling day: 15 October 2016 *Last day for receipt of postal votes: 21 October 2016

Background

The incumbent Labor Party led by Chief Minister Andrew Barr attempted to win re-election for a fifth term in the unicameral

ACT Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly for the Australian Capital Territory (known in short as the ACT Legislative Assembly) is the unicameral legislature of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT). It sits in the Legislative Assembly Building on Civic Sq ...

. Labor, led by Katy Gallagher, formed a minority coalition government with the Greens after the

2012 election This national electoral calendar for 2012 lists the national/ federal elections held in 2012 in all sovereign states and their dependent territories. By-elections are excluded, though national referendums are included. January *3–4 January: ...

, where Labor won 8 seats, Liberal 8 seats, Greens 1 seat. The Greens retained their balance of power in the election despite losing the majority of their 4-seat representation, with sole remaining representative Shane Rattenbury entering the cabinet to form a coalition government. Gallagher resigned as Chief Minister and Labor leader on 5 December 2014 to enter the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

in the vacancy left by Kate Lundy. She was replaced by her deputy Andrew Barr on 11 December 2014. The opposition, the Liberal Party, also had a change in leadership. Zed Seselja, the leader of the party since 2007, stood down on 11 February 2013, to challenge Liberal Party pre-selection for the Senate at the 2013 federal election. Seselja eventually won his pre-selection bid, and was elected Senator for the Australian Capital Territory at the federal election. He was replaced as leader of the Liberal Party by Jeremy Hanson. All members of the unicameral Assembly faced re-election, with members being elected by the Hare-Clark system of proportional representation. The Assembly was previously divided into three electorates: five-member Brindabella (including Tuggeranong and parts of the Woden Valley) and Ginninderra (including Belconnen and suburbs) and seven-member Molonglo (including North Canberra, South Canberra, Gungahlin, Weston Creek, and the remainder of the Woden Valley). These electorates, were redistributed following the increase in the size of the Assembly to 25 seats. At the end of May 2015, the following electorates were announced: * Brindabella – contains the district of Tuggeranong (except the suburb of Kambah). * Ginninderra – contains the district of Belconnen (except the suburbs of Evatt,

Giralang Giralang () is a suburb of the Belconnen district of Canberra, located within the Australian Capital Territory, Australia. The suburb is named after the word in the language of the Wiradhuri Aboriginal tribe of the Central West, New South Wales ...

, Kaleen,

McKellar McKellar is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Archibald McKellar (1816–1894), Canadian politician * Archie McKellar (1912–1940), Royal Air Force fighter pilot during the Battle of Britain * Colin McKellar (1903–1970), Aus ...

and

Lawson Lawson may refer to: Places Australia * Lawson, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb of Canberra * Lawson, New South Wales, a town in the Blue Mountains Canada * Lawson, Saskatchewan * Lawson Island, Nunavut United States * Lawson, Arkansas ...

). * Kurrajong – contains the districts of Canberra Central and Majura * Murrumbidgee – contains the districts of the Woden Valley, Weston Creek, Molonglo Valley and the Tuggeranong suburb of Kambah. * Yerrabi – contains the districts of Gungahlin,

Hall In architecture, a hall is a relatively large space enclosed by a roof and walls. In the Iron Age and early Middle Ages in northern Europe, a mead hall was where a lord and his retainers ate and also slept. Later in the Middle Ages, the gr ...

and the Belconnen suburbs of Evatt,

, Kaleen,

and

. Election dates are set in statute with four-year fixed terms, to be held on the third Saturday of October every four years.

Campaign

The opposition Liberal Party opposed the Light rail in Canberra project, so did the

Like Canberra Like Canberra was a political party registered for the 2016 Australian Capital Territory general election. It was formally registered on 28 June 2016. It fielded two candidates in each of the five electorates. The party's views included support f ...

and Sustainable Australia. In April 2015, the Liberal party announced it would cancel any contracts for the light rail if it won the 2016 ACT election. A year out from the poll, the light rail project was already predicted to be the election's major issue. As predicted, the light rail project was the major issue of the campaign. The election saw the Labor government returned, with the party claiming the result as an endorsement of the project.

Candidates

Registered parties

Twelve parties were registered with the

as eligible for the October 2016 election, ten of which nominated candidates for the election. * Animal Justice Party * Australian Labor Party (ACT Branch) * Australian Sex Party ACT *

Canberra Community Voters Canberra Community Voters is a political party in the Australian Capital Territory formed by former lobbyist Richard Farmer. In an interview with the RiotACT, Farmer stated that "The clubs have given me the money, you can write that... I’ve not a ...

* Liberal Democratic Party * Liberal Party *

* Sustainable Australia (ACT) * The ACT Greens *

The Community Alliance Party The Community Action Party (ACT), formerly The Community Alliance Party, is a minor political party based in the Australian Capital Territory. It was formally registered on 13 June 2008, and states that it is the ACT's fourth oldest political par ...

(ACT) * The Flux Party – ACT ''(did not contest)'' * VoteCanberra ''(did not contest)''

Retiring members

Labor

* Simon Corbell ( Molonglo)

Liberal

Val Jeffery Valentine Max Jeffery (6 December 1934 – 18 July 2017) was an Australian politician. Jeffery was elected to the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly as a Liberal member for Brindabella on 28 July 2016, following a countback re ...

( Brindabella)

Newspaper endorsements

References

External links

Elections ACT: 2016 Legislative Assembly electionAustralian Broadcasting Corporation: ACT Election 2016
{{DEFAULTSORT:Australian Capital Territory General Election, 2016 2016 elections in Australia Elections in the Australian Capital Territory October 2016 events in Australia 2010s in the Australian Capital Territory