Northern Territory general election, 2016

Northern Territory general election, 2016

← 2012 27 August 2016 2020 →
All 25 seats in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly 13 seats needed for a majority
First party Second party   Leader Michael Gunner Adam Giles Party Labor Country Liberal Leader since 20 April 2015 14 March 2013 Leader's seat Fannie Bay Braitling (lost seat) Last election 8 seats 16 seats Seats before 7 seats 11 seats Seats won 18 2 Seat change 11 9 Percentage 58.5% 41.5% Swing 14.3 14.3
Winning party by division for the Legislative Assembly.
Chief Minister before election Adam Giles Country Liberal Elected Chief Minister Michael Gunner Labor

Adam Giles
Country Liberal

Michael Gunner
Labor

The 2016 Northern Territory general election was held on Saturday 27 August 2016 to elect all 25 members of the Legislative Assembly in the unicameral Northern Territory Parliament.

Legislation was passed in February 2016 to change the voting method of single-member electorates from full-preferential voting to optional preferential voting. Electoral districts were redistributed in 2015. The election was conducted by the Northern Territory Electoral Commission, an independent body answerable to Parliament.

The one-term incumbent Country Liberal Party (CLP) minority government, led by Chief Minister Adam Giles, was defeated by the Opposition Australian Labor Party, led by Opposition Leader Michael Gunner. The CLP suffered the worst defeat of a sitting government in the history of the Territory, and one of the worst defeats of a sitting government in Australian history. It was the first time that a sitting Northern Territory government was defeated after only one term. From 11 seats at dissolution (and 16 at the 2012 election), the CLP suffered the worst election performance in its history, winning only two seats—those of second-term MPs Gary Higgins (the only survivor of the Giles cabinet) and Lia Finocchiaro. Labor won 18 seats, in the process winning the third-largest majority government in Territory history, and the second-largest since the Territory was granted self-government in 1978. Independents won five seats. Although the independent MPs outnumbered the CLP MPs, on official advice the CLP was recognised as the official opposition.