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Legislative Assembly election, 2008
Party	Vote %		Seats
Labor	43.2	↓8.8	13	↓6
Country Liberal	45.4	↑9.7	11	↑7
Independents			1	↓1
Labor win

General elections were held in the Northern Territory of Australia on 9 August 2008.^[1] 23 of the 25 seats in the Legislative Assembly were contested; two safe Labor seats were uncontested. The incumbent centre-left Australian Labor Party (ALP), led by Chief Minister Paul Henderson won a narrow third term victory against the opposition centre-right Country Liberal Party (CLP), led by Terry Mills. Labor suffered a massive and unexpected swing against it, to hold a one seat majority in the new parliament.^[2][3][4]

Results

Independents: Gerry Wood

Two safe seats were won by the ALP as no CLP candidate was fielded. The Greens ran in six of the 25 seats, averaging around 16 percent.^[7] Minister for Natural Resources, Environment and Heritage, Minister for Parks and Wildlife Len Kiely was defeated as was Minister for Sport and Recreation, Corporate and Information Services Matthew Bonson.

Background

The first territory election for the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly in 1974 saw the CLP led by Goff Letts win 17 of 19 seats on 49 per cent of the vote, while the ALP did not win a seat, on 30 per cent.^[8] The CLP retained government under various leaders at each election until 2001, when the ALP led by Clare Martin unexpectedly won government, with 13 of 25 seats. The Martin-led ALP retained government in 2005 on 19 of 25 seats, leaving the CLP with four, the largest result since 1974. Clare Martin resigned as Chief Minister on the 26 November 2007, along with her Deputy Syd Stirling. Paul Henderson the then Minister for Employment, Education and Training took over as Chief Minister with Marion Scrymgour as Deputy, who was the highest ranking indigenous politician in Australia.

Key dates

• Issue of writ: 22 July
• Close of roll: 8pm 24 July
• Close of nominations: 12 noon 28 July
• Postal voting commences: 31 July
• Pre-poll voting commences: 4 August
• Polling Day: 9 August

Retiring members

The following members did not seek another term at the election.

Labor

• Clare Martin (Fannie Bay)
• Syd Stirling (Nhulunbuy)
• Elliot McAdam (Barkly)

Country Liberal

• Fay Miller (Katherine)

Independent

• Loraine Braham (Braitling)

Candidates

Sitting members are in bold.

References

External links

Electoral sites

• Northern Territory Electoral Commission website

Media sites

• ABC NT Election website

Party sites

• Australian Labor Party (NT) website
• Country Liberal Party website
• Northern Territory Greens website

Elections in Northern Territory General elections 1974  · 1977  · 1980  · 1983  · 1987  · 1990  · 1994  · 1997  · 2001  · 2005  · 2008 Referendums 1998

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