The Australian Capital Territory election count was resolved today, producing a final result of 12 seats for Labor, 11 for Liberal and two for the Greens, confirming Labor’s re-election with Greens support. In the two close races, Labor won the final seat in Ginninderra at the expense of the Greens, for a result of Labor three, Liberal two, and the Greens edged out the Liberals in Murrumbidgee, for a result of Labor two, Liberal two, Greens one. Thirteen of the 15 elected members are women, which is presumably some sort of first.
Brindabella. This was the one result that was entirely clear on election night, with three of the seats going to Liberals (Andrew Wall, Mark Parton and Nicole Lawder) and two to Labor (Mick Gentleman and Joy Burch).
Ginninderra. The last seat was down to a third Labor candidate and the Greens, with the former prevailing. In the race for the last two seats, Indra Esguerra of the Greens dropped out with 6129 votes to 6851 and 6830 for Labor’s Gordon Ramsay and Tara Cheyne. Of the two Labor incumbents, Yvette Berry was comfortably re-elected at the point where only three Labor candidates remained, while Chris Bourke was defeated. Incumbent Vicki Dunne was the first Liberal elected, and newcomer Elizabeth Kikkert the second, edging out party colleague Paul Sweeney by 5587 to 5272 at the relevant point of the count.
Kurrajong. It was always clear the result here would be two each for Labor and Liberal, plus one for the Greens. For Labor, Chief Minister Andrew Barr was elected on the primary vote, and the race for the second position eventually went to Rachel Stephen-Smith, who finished clear of Josh Ceramidas by 7699 votes to 5165. For the Liberals, newcomer Elizabeth Lee was first elected, with incumbent Steve Doszpot managing to edge out newcomer Candice Burch by 5823 to 4920. Greens leader Shane Rattenbury was the second candidate elected after Barr.
Murrumbidgee. Caroline Le Couteur joins Shane Rattenbury as a second Greens member after prevailing over a third Liberal. Liberal leader Jeremy Hanson was elected on the primary vote, while Bec Cody and Chris Steel emerged the winners of a fairly even race between the five non-incumbent Labor candidates. The last two seats came down to Le Couteur and two Liberals, incumbent Giulia Jones and newcomer Peter Hosking, in which Hosking dropped out with 6762 votes to Le Couteur’s 7571.
Yerrabi. This was always going to be three Labor, two Liberal. Labor’s elected candidates were incumbent Meegan Fitzharris, followed by Michael Pettersson and then Suzanne Orr, the latter finishing ahead of incumbent Jayson Hinder 5141 to 4471. For the Liberals, deputy leader Alistair Coe was first elected, followed by James Milligan.
13 women v 12 men
A first for Australia?
Oh Boerwar , I thought you might be interested to know that in the final count ACT Labor and the Greens both suffered 0.5% swings against on the Primary vote. 😉
Good result for the ACT — I had wondered whether there would be a babyboomer ‘Brexit’ style effect; with old farts voting against the tram to screw the next generation to backward public transport long after they’ve dropped off the twig… but luckily the ACT seems to have less of these selfish geriatrics than the UK!
So in the end an increased majority after pushing through some controversial project. A great result for Labor, terrible for Liberals.
The primary vote for Labor has dropped a bit, but when the 2 party preferred or 3 party preferred votes are calculated, it will show at least a 2% point increase in the Labor vote.
Johncanb
I was just having a go at Boerwar becuase he was crowing about what looked like a +2% to Labor and a -0.6% to the Greens on election night and how the Greens were dieing. I don’t actually think small swings mean much at all unless it’s part of a pattern.
First para “Thirteen of the 15 elected members are women, which is presumably some sort of first.” should be 25 not 15, methinks?
I know you were aiming your comments at Boerwar Elaugaufein, and my comment was partly a response to him as well. That grumpy old man (meant in the nicest possible way) complained about the ALP light rail and rate increase/reduce stamp duty policies, but in the end they worked, and most significantly, the Greens did badly as well. They were at a low point in 2012, and in 2016 they have gone even lower – down by 0.5% on primary vote – but when the three party preferred votes are calculated, it will show an even greater reduction for the Greens. So it is not just the LP who need to rethink their strategy, it is also the Greens.