Division of Sturt

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2004 Federal Election
Party		%
	Liberal Party of Australia	51.66%
	Australian Labor Party	34.55%
	Australian Greens	6.06%
	Family First Party	4.78%
	Australian Democrats	2.26%

The Division of Sturt is an Australian Electoral Division in South Australia.

First proclaimed in 1949, Sturt was named for Captain Charles Sturt, nineteenth century explorer and the first European to discover the Murray River. Stretching from Adelaide's mortgage belt suburbs in the centre-east to the wealthy south-eastern suburbs, Sturt has traditionally been a Liberal Party constituency and has been home to the Wilson political dynasty of father Keith and son Ian.

A 16% swing in 1969 unseated Ian Wilson but he was returned at the 1972 elections against the flow of Gough Whitlam's federal victory. Wilson was a key early member of the progressive Liberal Movement faction within the Liberal Party but refused to leave the Liberal's when the Liberal Movement became a separate party. To show there was no love lost, the Liberal Movement ran a candidate in Sturt in the 1974 election, polling a healthy 7.2%, much of which derived from Wilson’s vote.

The Liberal Movement's successor party, the Australian Democrats, have traditionally polled well in Sturt, highlighted by 13.5% at their first showing in 1977 and 15% in 1990, the best result by a minor party in Sturt. The Democrats vote has dropped sharply in recent years, they gained only 2.26% in the 2004 elections. Additionally, an independent Liberal contested Sturt at the 1993 elections, polling a respectable 14.6%.