1988 Wallsend state by-election

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A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Wallsend on 17 December 1988 because of the death of Ken Booth (Labor). [1]

Contents

It was won by Labor candidate John Mills in the absence of a Liberal candidate. [2] Mills had been Booth's preferred successor, and although several Labor ministers had lost their seats at the previous election, it was reported that due to "considerable disaffection with the ALP in the region at the last election" and multiple seats lost to independents the party was keen to see Booth elected with "as little fuss as possible". [3] Mills won the seat against three independents with over 55% of the vote, although there was only a "modest" voter turnout of about 80%. [4] The timing of the by-election had been unusual, just over a week before Christmas, and had been attacked by Opposition Leader Bob Carr as "unheard of" and likely to decrease turnout. [5]

Dates

DateEvent
2 November 1988Death of Ken Booth. [1]
30 November 1988 Writ of election issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. [6]
7 December 1988Nominations
17 December 1988Polling day
6 January 1989Return of writ

Results

1988 Wallsend by-election
Saturday 17 December  [2]
PartyCandidateVotes%±%
Labor John Mills 15,67155.8-3.6
Independent Lindsay Bradley8,48530.2
Independent Paul Stocker2,5559.1
Independent Philip Laver1,3774.9
Total formal votes28,08897.0+1.0
Informal votes8703.0-1.0
Turnout 28,95887.7-8.3
Two-candidate-preferred result
Labor John Mills 17,01163.4+4.0
Independent Lindsay Bradley9,81736.6
Labor hold Swing +4.0  [lower-alpha 1]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ compared to the two-candidate-preferred result for the 1988 Wallsend election.

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References

  1. 1 2 "The Hon. Kenneth George Booth (1926–1988)". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales . Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  2. 1 2 Green, Antony. "1988 Wallsend by-election". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales . Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  3. ↑ "Booth's death forces another by-election". Sydney Morning Herald. 2 November 1988. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  4. ↑ "ALP Wallsend win ends independents' run". Sydney Morning Herald. 19 December 1988. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  5. ↑ "By-election timing angers Opposition". The Sydney Morning Herald . 5 December 1988.
  6. ↑ "Writ of election: Wallsend". New South Wales Government Gazette . No. 177. 30 November 1988. p. 6173. Retrieved 13 November 2019– via Trove.
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