Victorian state election, 2002

Victorian state election, 2002

1999 ← 30 November 2002 (2002-11-30) → 2006

All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and 22 (of the 44) seats in the Victorian Legislative Council   First party Second party Third party   Leader Steve Bracks Robert Doyle Peter Ryan Party Labor Liberal National Leader since 22 March 1999 20 August 2002 December 1999 Leader's seat Williamstown Malvern Gippsland South Last election 42 seats 36 seats 7 seats Seats won 62 seats 17 seats 7 seats Seat change 20 19 0 Percentage 47.95% 33.91% 4.30% Swing 2.38 8.31 0.50

Premier before election Steve Bracks Labor Elected Premier Steve Bracks Labor

Elections were held in the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday 30 November 2002 to elect the 88 members of the state's Legislative Assembly and 22 members of the 44-member Legislative Council.

The Labor government led by Premier Steve Bracks was returned for a second term with a landslide that saw the Liberal opposition, led by Robert Doyle, reduced to 17 seats — their worst result since the 1952 election. Labor also won a majority of seats in the Legislative Council for the first time in its history. The Nationals (who after breaking off their Coalition with the Liberals renamed themselves the 'VicNats') retained the 7 seats they held from the 1999 election.

Labor was assisted by a strong economy and by the popularity of Steve Bracks, while the Liberal Party was badly divided between the Kroger and the Kennett factions. The Liberal campaign was also damaged by the revelation that the shadow treasurer, Robert Dean, had failed to ensure he was on the electoral roll and therefore could neither vote nor stand as a candidate.

This was the last Victorian election where the Legislative Council was elected using preferential voting in single-member districts (while each province has two members, they were elected at alternate elections). The Constitution (Parliamentary Reform) Act 2003 abolished the electoral provinces and divided Victoria into eight regions each electing five members using proportional representation, with all seats being vacated each election.

Results

See also: Post-election pendulum for the Victorian state election, 2002

Legislative Assembly

Victorian state election, 30 November 2002 Legislative Assembly << 1999 — 2006 >>
Enrolled Voters		3,228,466
Votes Cast		3,007,342		Turnout	93.16	–1.05
Informal Votes		102,791		Informal	3.42	+0.84
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary Votes	%	Swing	Seats	Change
	Labor	1,392,704	47.95	+2.38	62	+20
	Liberal	985,011	33.91	–8.31	17	–19
	Greens	282,585	9.73	+8.58	0	± 0
	National	125,003	4.30	–0.50	7	± 0
	CEC	9,654	0.33	+0.33	0	± 0
	Democrats	3,948	0.14	–0.14	0	± 0
	Socialist Alliance	3,274	0.11	+0.04	0	± 0
	Christian Democrats	1,723	0.06	+0.04	0	± 0
	Democratic Labor	1,035	0.04	–0.18	0	± 0
	Hope Party	914	0.03	–0.36	0	± 0
	Independent	98,700	3.40	–1.32	2	– 1
Total		2,904,551			88
Two-Party Preferred
	Labor	1,677,308	57.76	+7.56
	Liberal	1,226,652	42.24	–7.56

Legislative Council

The following voting statistics exclude the two mid-term by-elections held on the same day, at which one seat each was retained by the Liberal and National parties.

Victorian state election, 30 November 2002 Legislative Council << 1999 — 2006 >>
Enrolled Voters		3,228,466
Votes Cast		3,006,200		Turnout	93.12	+0.17
Informal Votes		110,422		Informal	3.67	+0.30
Summary of votes by party
Party		Primary Votes	%	Swing	Seats won	Seats held
	Labor	1,375,245	47.49	+5.26	17	25
	Liberal	999,392	34.51	–5.19	3	14
	Greens	314,697	10.87	+8.64	0	0
	National	126,419	4.37	–2.91	2	5
	Democrats	51,718	1.79	–5.00	0	0
	Hope Party	4,615	0.16	+0.16	0	0
	Christian Democrats	4,615	0.14	–0.10	0	0
	Independent	19,534	0.67	–0.62	0	0
Total		2,895,778			22	44
Two-Party Preferred
	Labor	1,675,108	57.85	+7.73
	Liberal	1,220,258	42.15	–7.73

Electoral maps

Metropolitan Melbourne: ALP held seats are marked in red. Liberal seats are coloured blue.	Country Victoria: ALP seats are coloured in red, Liberal in blue, Nationals in green and independents in yellow.

See also

• Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly, 2002-2006
• Candidates of the Victorian state election, 2002

References

• Victorian Electoral Commission, [1]
• Costar, B.J & Campbell J.. "Realigning Victoria: The State Election of 30 November 2002". Australian Journal of Political Science 38 : 2: 313–323.