1988 Victorian state election
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All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and 22 (of the 44) seats in the Victorian Legislative Council | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 1988 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 1 October 1988, was for the 51st Parliament of Victoria. It was held in the Australian state of Victoria to elect all 88 members of the state's Legislative Assembly and 22 members of the 44-member Legislative Council.
The incumbent Labor Party government led by Premier John Cain won a third term in office, despite a swing against it, and only lost the seat of Warrandyte in Melbourne's north-east. This was credited by commentators to a strong campaign targeting Liberal leader Jeff Kennett whose aggressive leadership style was still seen as a liability, as well as continuing instability in the federal Coalition.[1] Its narrow wins in middle class marginal seats saw it win a majority despite achieving less than half of the two party preferred vote.[2]
Results
Legislative Assembly
|
Victorian state election, 1 October 1988 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enrolled voters | 2,739,614 | |||||
| Votes cast | 2,530,027 | Turnout | 92.35 | -0.86 | ||
| Informal votes | 98,525 | Informal | 3.89 | +1.21 | ||
| Summary of votes by party | ||||||
| Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats | Change | |
| Labor | 1,131,750 | 46.55 | –3.46 | 46 | – 1 | |
| Liberal | 986,311 | 40.51 | –1.30 | 33 | + 2 | |
| National | 188,776 | 7.76 | +0.47 | 9 | – 1 | |
| Democrats | 25,611 | 1.05 | +1.05 | 0 | ± 0 | |
| Call to Australia | 25,543 | 1.05 | +1.05 | 0 | ± 0 | |
| Democratic Labor | 6,018 | 0.25 | +0.25 | 0 | ± 0 | |
| Independent | 67,493 | 2.78 | +1.94 | 0 | ± 0 | |
| Total | 2,431,502 | 88 | ||||
| Two-party-preferred | ||||||
| Labor | 1,202,294 | 49.49 | –1.21 | |||
| Liberal | 1,227,295 | 50.51 | +1.21 | |||
Legislative Council
|
Victorian state election, 1 October 1988 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Enrolled voters | 2,739,614 | |||||
| Votes cast | 2,529,569 | Turnout | 92.33 | –0.86 | ||
| Informal votes | 109,578 | Informal | 4.33 | +1.32 | ||
| Summary of votes by party | ||||||
| Party | Primary votes | % | Swing | Seats won |
Seats held | |
| Labor | 1,164,796 | 48.13 | +0.85 | 9 | 19 | |
| Liberal | 1,052,591 | 43.50 | +2.35 | 10 | 19 | |
| National | 181,074 | 7.48 | +0.81 | 3 | 6 | |
| Call to Australia | 5,363 | 0.22 | –0.49 | 0 | 0 | |
| Independent | 16,167 | 0.67 | +0.45 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 2,419,991 | 22 | 44 | |||
Seats changing hands
| Seat | Pre-1988 | Swing | Post-1988 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Party | Member | Margin | Margin | Member | Party | ||||
| Mildura | National | Milton Whiting | 23.0 | -24.0 | 1.0 | Craig Bildstien | Liberal | ||
| Warrandyte | Labor | Lou Hill | 0.2 | -1.7 | 1.5 | Phil Honeywood | Liberal | ||
- Members in italics did not recontest their seats.
Key dates
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 29 August 1988 | The Legislative Council was prorogued and the Legislative Assembly was dissolved.[3] |
| 29 August 1988 | Writs were issued by the Governor to proceed with an election.[4] |
| 2 September 1988 | The Constitution Act Amendment (Electoral Procedures) Act 1988 (No.31) comes into operation.[5] |
| 5 September 1988 | The electoral rolls were closed. |
| 9 September 1988 | Nominations for candidates for the election closed at noon. |
| 1 October 1988 | Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. |
| 13 October 1988 | The Cain Ministry was reconstituted, with two new ministers sworn in.[6] |
| 21 October 1988 | The writ was returned and the results formally declared. |
| 25 October 1988 | Parliament resumed for business.[7] |
Post-election Pendulum
Aftermath
On 23 May 1989, Jeff Kennett was voted out of the Liberal leadership in favour of Alan Brown; Brown led the party until 23 April 1991 when he was also forced out after a successful comeback by Kennett. During Brown's period as Opposition Leader, the Liberals negotiated the first coalition agreement with the Nationals in over forty years, in part due to a belief by some (in spite of what political scientist Brian Costar called a "lack of psephological evidence to support this assertion") that had the parties been in coalition at the election, they would have won.[8]
References
- ^ Costar, Brian; Economou, Nick (1992). "Elections and Electoral Change 1982–92". In Considine, M.; Costar, B. J. (eds.). Trials in Power: Cain, Kirner and Victoria 1982–92. pp. 255–256.
- ^ Shamshullah, Ardel (June 1989). "Australian Political Chronicle: July–December 1988: Victoria". Australian Journal of Politics and History. 35 (2): 252–253. ISSN 0004-9522.
- ^ [Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "{". "Proroguing the Legislative Council and dissolving the Legislative Assembly: Proclamation"]. Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 29 August 1988. p. 1988:S77 (Special).
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help) - ^ [Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "{". "Simultaneous Election"]. Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 29 August 1988. p. 1988:S77 (Special).
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help) - ^ [Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "{". "Constitution Act Amendment (Electoral Procedures) Act 1988 (No.31): Proclamation of Commencement"]. Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 2 September 1988. p. 1988:S79 (Special).
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help) - ^ [Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "{". "Ministers of the Crown (per 51287/88)"]. Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 13 October 1988. p. 1988:S84 (Special).
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help) - ^ [Expression error: Unrecognized punctuation character "{". "Fixing the time for holding the first session of the Fifty-first Parliament of Victoria"]. Victoria Government Gazette. Victorian Government Printer. 13 October 1988. p. 1988:S83.
{{cite web}}: Check|url=value (help) - ^ B. J. Costar, 'Coalition Government: An Unequal Partnership' in B. J. Costar & N. Economou (eds) The Kennett Revolution: Victorian Politics in the 1990s, UNSW Press, Sydney, 1998, p. 89
