Western Australian state election, 2008

Infobox Election Result
jurisdiction = wa
year = 2008
hung = yes
wincolour = grey
winner = No majority
party1 = Labor
colour1 = red
vote1 = 35.8
swing1 = ↓6.1
seats1 = 28
change1 = ↓9
party2 = Liberals
colour2 = blue
vote2 = 38.4
swing2 = ↑2.8
seats2 = 24
change2 = ↑8
party3 = Nationals
colour3 = green
vote3 = 4.9
swing3 = ↑1.2
seats3 = 4
change3 = ↑1
party4 = Greens
colour4 =
vote4 = 11.9
swing4 = ↑4.3
seats4 = 0
change4 =
party5 = Independents
colour5 =
vote5 =
swing5 =
seats5 = 3
change5 =

A general election was held in the state of Western Australia on Saturday 6 September 2008 to elect 59 members to the Legislative Assembly and 36 members to the Legislative Council. The incumbent centre-left Australian Labor Party government, in power since the 2001 election and led since 25 January 2006 by Premier Alan Carpenter, was defeated by the centre-right Liberal Party opposition, led by Opposition Leader Colin Barnett since 6 August 2008.

The election resulted in a hung parliament with no party gaining a majority. The Liberals were placed in a position to form a minority government with the consent of Nationals and independents, although under the proviso of empanelling National Party ministers with "the right to exempt [themselves] from Cabinet and vote against an issue on the floor of the Parliament if it's against the wishes of the people [they] represent," [cite news|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/09/14/2364004.htm|title=Nationals hand WA election win to the Liberals|author=ABC Online|date=14 September 2008|accessdate=2008-09-14] , an explicit rejection of the pattern of former coalition-government agreements under which the Nationals had been seen as virtual co-owners of Liberal policies.

The election was the first to be held since a major electoral redistribution was implemented in 2007. This redistribution involved significant changes to the geographic distribution of parliamentary seats and regions in Western Australia, and brought the state into line with the rest of Australia in adopting one vote one value for the lower house.

The election was called earlier than expected by Alan Carpenter, who requested the Governor to dissolve parliament on 7 August 2008. [cite news|url=http://news.theage.com.au/national/wa-voters-go-to-polls-on-september-6-20080807-3ric.html|title=WA voters go to polls on September 6|work=The Age|date=7 August 2008|accessdate=2008-08-07]

Results

The following results are being updated regularly based on publicly available data from the WA Electoral Commission.

Legislative Assembly

Australian elections/Title row
title = Western Australian state election, 6 September 2008
house = Legislative Assembly
series = Western Australian state election
back = 2005
forward = Next
enrolled = 1,330,399
total_votes = 1,150,497
turnout % = 86.48%
turnout chg = –3.36%
informal = 61,200
informal % = 5.32%
informal chg = +0.08%Australian elections/Party summary
government = yes
party_id = Liberal
votes = 418,208
votes % = 38.39
votes chg = +2.75
seats = 24
seats chg = +8Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Labor
votes = 390,339
votes % = 35.84
votes chg = -6.04
seats = 28
seats chg = –9Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Greens
party = Greens WA
votes = 129,827
votes % = 11.92
votes chg = +4.35
seats =
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Nationals
party = National
votes = 53,086
votes % = 4.87
votes chg = +1.18
seats = 4
seats chg = + 1Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Christian Democrats
votes = 28,079
votes % = 2.58
votes chg = –0.35
seats =
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Family First
votes = 21,204
votes % = 1.95
votes chg = –0.07
seats =
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party = Citizens Electoral Council
votes = 1,161
votes % = 0.11
votes chg = –1.99
seats =
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Independent
party = Independent
votes = 47,353
votes % = 4.35
votes chg = +0.19
seats = 3
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Total row
total_votes = 1,089,257
total_seats = 59Australian elections/2PP summary
party id 1 = Labor
2pp votes 1 =
2pp % 1 =
2pp chg 1 =
party id 2 = Liberal
2pp votes 2 =
2pp % 2 =
2pp chg 2 =

Legislative Council

Australian elections/Title row
title = Western Australian state election, 6 September 2008
house = Legislative Council
enrolled = 1,330,399
total_votes = 1,150,612
turnout % = 86.49%
turnout chg = –3.51%
informal = 32,635
informal % = 2.84%
informal chg = –0.34%Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Liberal
votes = 442,783
votes % = 39.61
votes chg = +2.49
seats = 16
seats chg = + 1Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Labor
votes = 403,935
votes % = 36.13
votes chg = -7.22
seats = 11
seats chg = – 5Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Greens
party = Greens WA
votes = 123,882
votes % = 11.08
votes chg = +3.56
seats = 4
seats chg = + 2Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Nationals
party = National
votes = 59,498
votes % = 5.32
votes chg = +3.13
seats = 5
seats chg = + 4Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Family First
votes = 28,121
votes % = 2.52
votes chg = +0.51
seats =
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Christian Democrats
votes = 25,950
votes % = 2.32
votes chg = +0.04
seats =
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = One Nation
votes = 7,008
votes % = 0.63
votes chg = –0.96
seats =
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party = Daylight Saving
votes = 6,799
votes % = 0.61
votes chg = +0.61
seats =
seats chg = ± 0 Australian elections/Party summary
party = Citizens Electoral Council
votes = 2,975
votes % = 0.27
votes chg = +0.21
seats =
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party = New Country Party
votes = 555
votes % = 0.05
votes chg = –0.26
seats =
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Party summary
party_id = Independent
party = Independent
votes = 16,471
votes % = 1.47
votes chg = +0.21
seats =
seats chg = ± 0Australian elections/Total row
total_votes = 1,117,977
total_seats = 36

Summary of Results

References

External links

* [http://www.waec.wa.gov.au/ Western Australian Electoral Commission]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/elections/wa/2008/ Main site - 2008 WA election - ABC Elections]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/elections/wa/2008/guide/pendulum.htm Pendulum - 2008 WA election - ABC Elections]
* [http://www.abc.net.au/elections/wa/2008/guide/redistribution.htm 2007 redistribution - 2008 WA election - ABC Elections]