Fair Elections Coalition | |
---|---|
Abbreviation | FEC |
Leader | Tony Fleming [1] |
President | Miko Kirschbaum [2] |
Spokesperson | Moira Rowland |
Founded | 11 August 1988 |
Registered | 16 January 1989 |
Dissolved | 26 July 1991 |
Headquarters | 15 Grey Street Deakin, Canberra [3] |
The Fair Elections Coalition (FEC) was an Australian political party that contested the first election for the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly in 1989. [4]
The FEC was formed on 11 August 1988 as a lobby group in opposition to the modified D'Hondt electoral system that was introduced for the first ACT election under self-government. [5] [6] Under this system, any party that did not win at least 5.56% of the vote was unable to win a seat or receive preferences from other parties. [7] [8] The FEC also opposed single-member electoral districts, which were proposed (although failed to pass) at a 1992 referendum. [9] [10]
Although its members, including president Miko Kirschbaum, did not initially want to be a political party, the FEC applied for registration with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) on 5 January 1989 and was registered 11 days later. [3] [6] [11]
In February 1989, Tony Fleming (who had planned to contest the election as part of his own "Tony Fleming Independent Group" party), former Australian Democrats candidate Julie McCarron-Benson and three members of the Rainbow Alliance joined the FEC to contest the election, in order to best maximise their chances under the D'Hondt system. [12] [13] This meant the Rainbow Alliance withdrew from the election as a separate party. [14] [15]
The FEC received second preferences from a majority of the minor parties that were contesting the election. [16] Opinion polling published throughout the election campaign showed the party with between 1.1% and 2.8% of the vote, which was not enough to win a seat. [17] [18] Fleming's campaign was endorsed by Tasmanian Independent Greens MP Bob Brown, who said Fleming was "part of the fresh wave of Australian politics" and "a brilliant candidate". [19] [20]
The election was held on 4 March, but counting took almost two months to complete. [21] [22] Around three weeks after the election, Fleming conceded that he had narrowly missed out on being elected, with the FEC winning 99.92% of the quota needed and thus falling just 117 votes (or 0.08%) short of gaining a seat. [23] [24] This was despite Fleming having the third-highest personal vote of any candidate in the ACT. [25] [26]
On 26 July 1991, the FEC was deregistered by the AEC. [27]