2020 Australian Capital Territory general election

2020 Australian Capital Territory general election
All 25 seats of the pp)
	Map of results by electorate at the 2020 ACT election
Chief Minister before election; Andrew Barr; Labor–Greens Coalition	Elected Chief Minister ; Andrew Barr; Labor–Greens Coalition

The 2020 Australian Capital Territory general election was held between 28 September and 17 October 2020 to elect all 25 members of the

ACT Legislative Assembly

.

The incumbent

Liberal Party.^[1] On the night of the election Barr claimed victory and confirmed Labor would again seek to enter into an arrangement with the Greens to form government, whilst Liberal leader Alistair Coe conceded the election and acknowledged the party would retain opposition status in the Assembly.^[1] The result meant that the Labor Party, which had been in office for 19 years at this election, won a sixth consecutive term of government in the Territory. Despite the victory, Labor's representation in the Assembly dropped to 10 seats, whilst the Liberals also suffered a decline in their vote and fell to 9 seats. The Greens retained the balance of power and picked up the seats lost by the two larger parties to claim 6 seats, its largest representation in the Assembly in the party's history.^[2] Following the election, Labor and the Greens signed an agreement on 2 November to support a Labor-led Government with three ministers from the Greens.^[3]^[4]^[5]

The election was conducted by the

Hare-Clark system. At the preliminary close of rolls, there were 302,630 people enrolled to vote representing a 6% increase on the 2016 election. Legislative changes in the Australian Capital Territory allowed for people to enrol during polling, with a further 3,370 electors enrolling before polling finished on 17 October.^[6]

Results

Legislative Assembly (STV) – Turnout 89.3% (CV)^[7]^[8]

Party		Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	101,826	37.8	−0.6	10	2
	Liberal	91,047	33.8	−2.9	9	2
	Greens	36,369	13.5	+3.2	6	4
	Ungrouped independents	6,625	2.5	−2.0	0
	Progressives	5,443	2.0	+2.0	0
	Belco	5,264	2.0	+2.0	0
	Animal Justice	4,762	1.8	+0.3	0
	Sustainable Australia	4,593	1.7	+0.1	0
	Democratic Labour	3,864	1.4	+1.4	0
	Shooters, Fishers, Farmers	3,778	1.4	+1.4	0
	Climate Change Justice	1,849	0.7	+0.7	0
	Pollard	1,729	0.6	+0.6	0
	Liberal Democrats	1,209	0.4	−0.3	0
	Federation	710	0.3	+0.3	0
	Community Action	183	0.1	+0.1	0
Formal votes		269,251	98.6	+1.1
Informal votes		3,892	1.4	−1.1
Total		273,143			25
Registered voters / turnout		306,000	89.3	+1.0

Primary vote by electorate

	Brindabella	Ginninderra	Kurrajong	Murrumbidgee	Yerrabi
ACT Labor	40.7%	40.0%	38.0%	36.1%	34.2%
Canberra Liberals	38.4%	26.7%	27.6%	35.6%	40.6%
ACT Greens	10.8%	12.5%	23.0%	11.7%	10.2%
Progressives	0.0%	0.0%	5.0%	2.7%	2.7%
Animal Justice	2.2%	1.7%	1.6%	2.0%	1.3%
Other	7.8%	19.1%	4.8%	11.9%	11.1%

Distribution of seats

Electorate	Seats held
Brindabella
Ginninderra
Kurrajong
Murrumbidgee
Yerrabi

	Labor
	Liberal
	Green

Labor won 43% of the three-party vote, the Liberals won 39% and the Greens won 18%.^[9]

Background

The incumbent

unicameral ACT Legislative Assembly. Labor formed a minority coalition government with the Greens after the 2016 election, with the Greens holding the balance of power; Labor 12 seats, Liberal 11 seats, Greens 2 seats. Greens member Shane Rattenbury remained in the cabinet for a second term. Leader of the Opposition and Liberals leader Jeremy Hanson was replaced by Alistair Coe

following the election.

All members of the unicameral Assembly faced re-election, with members being elected by the

Hare-Clark system of proportional representation

. The Assembly was divided into five electorates with five members each:

Kambah east of Drakeford Drive), as well as the southern village of Tharwa
and farms.

Giralang and Kaleen
).

Kurrajong – contains the districts of Canberra Central (excluding Deakin and Yarralumla), Jerrabomberra, Kowen and Majura.
Kambah
.
Giralang and Kaleen
.

Key dates

Last day to lodge applications for party register: 30 June 2020

Party registration closed: 10 September 2020

Pre-election period commenced and nominations opened: 11 September 2020

Rolls close: 18 September 2020 (8pm)
Nominations close: 23 September 2020 (12pm)
Nominations declared and ballot paper order determined: 24 September 2020
Pre-poll voting commences: 28 September 2020
Polling day: 17 October 2020
Last day for receipt of postal votes: 23 October 2020^[10]

Redistribution

A redistribution of electoral boundaries for the ACT took place in 2019 for the 2020 election. The redistribution committee was appointed on 26 October 2018, and its final report was tabled on 13 August 2019.^[11]

Changes were as follows:^[11]

Brindabella: gains Kambah West from Murrumbidgee.
Ginninderra: gains Belconnen District 2, Evatt, Lawson and McKellar from Yerrabi.
Kurrajong: loses Deakin and Yarralumla to Murrumbidgee.
Murrumbidgee: gains Deakin and Yarralumla from Kurrajong; loses Kambah West to Brindabella.
Yerrabi: loses Belconnen District 2, Evatt, Lawson and McKellar to Ginninderra.

Retiring members

Liberal

Vicki Dunne (Ginninderra)^[12]

Greens

Caroline Le Couteur (Murrumbidgee)^[13]

Candidates

137 candidates were formally declared for 2020 ACT Election on 24 September, with the total number of candidates down four from 2016's total. Of the 137 candidates, 129 were registered to political parties and eight were independents.^[14]

As part of the formal declaration, the candidates' names and any political party affiliation were announced, followed by a 'double randomisation' draw for each electorate to determine the order in which each party will appear on the ballot paper. A further draw then took place determining the starting order for the

Robson rotations in each column. Under the Robson rotation system, 60 different versions of the ballot papers were printed for each electorate.^[14]

Sitting members are in bold. Successful candidates are identified with an asterisk.