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 MinisterAndrew Barr, won a fifth term over the main opposition Liberal Party, led by opposition leaderJeremy 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]
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[10]
Background
Electorates from the 2016 election.
The incumbent Labor Party led by Chief MinisterAndrew Barr attempted to win re-election for a fifth term in the unicameralACT Legislative Assembly. Labor, led by Katy Gallagher, formed a minority coalition government with the Greens after the 2012 election, 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 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.
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 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.[11] A year out from the poll, the light rail project was already predicted to be the election's major issue.[12] As predicted, the light rail project was the major issue of the campaign.[13][14] 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 ACT Electoral Commission as eligible for the October 2016 election, ten of which nominated candidates for the election.[15]
