Victorian state election, 1988

Victorian state election, 1988
1985 ←
 1 October 1988 (1988-10-01)
 → 1992
All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and 22 (of the 44) seats in the Victorian Legislative Council
  First party Second party
 
Leader John Cain Jeff Kennett
Party Labor Liberal
Leader since 9 September 1981 26 October 1982
Leader's seat Bundoora Burwood
Last election 47 seats 41 seats
Seats won 46 seats 42 seats
Seat change 1 1
Percentage 49.47% 50.53%
Swing 1.23 1.23
Premier before election

John Cain
Labor

 Elected Premier

John Cain
Labor

Elections were held in the Australian state of Victoria on Saturday 1 October 1988 to elect the 88 members of the state's Legislative Assembly and 22 members of the 44-member Legislative Council.

The Labor government of 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]

Contents

Results

Legislative Assembly

Victorian state election, 1 October 1988
Legislative Assembly
<< 1985 — 1992 >>
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 49.47 –1.23
  Liberal 1,227,295 50.53 +1.23

Legislative Council

Victorian state election, 1 October 1988
Legislative Council

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

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]

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 voted out. 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

  1. ^ Costar, Brian; Economou, Nick (1992). "Elections and Electoral Change 1982–92". In Considine, M. and Costar, B. J.. Trials in Power: Cain, Kirner and Victoria 1982–92. pp. 255–256. 
  2. ^ Shamshullah, Ardel (June 1989). "Australian Political Chronicle: July–December 1988: Victoria". Australian Journal of Politics and History 35 (2): 252–253. ISSN 0004-9522. 
  3. ^ "Proroguing the Legislative Council and dissolving the Legislative Assembly: Proclamation". Victorian Government Gazette: p. 1988:S77 (Special). 29 August 1988. 
  4. ^ "Simultaneous Election". Victorian Government Gazette: p. 1988:S77 (Special). 29 August 1988. 
  5. ^ "Constitution Act Amendment (Electoral Procedures) Act 1988 (No.31): Proclamation of Commencement". Victorian Government Gazette: p. 1988:S79 (Special). 2 September 1988. 
  6. ^ "Ministers of the Crown (per 51287/88)". Victorian Government Gazette: p. 1988:S84 (Special). 13 October 1988. 
  7. ^ "Fixing the time for holding the first session of the Fifty-first Parliament of Victoria". Victorian Government Gazette: p. 1988:S83. 13 October 1988. 
  8. ^ 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
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