2020 Australian Capital Territory election

← 2016 17 October 2020 2024 →
All 25 seats of theAustralian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly 13 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout	89.3% ( 1.0pp)
First party Second party Third party   Leader Andrew Barr Alistair Coe Shane Rattenbury Party Labor Liberal Greens Leader since 11 December 2014 25 October 2016 20 October 2012 Leader's seat Kurrajong Yerrabi Kurrajong Last election 12 seats, 38.4% 11 seats, 36.7% 2 seats, 10.3% Seats won 10 9 6 Seat change 2 2 4 Primary vote 101,826 91,047 36,369 Percentage 37.8% 33.8% 13.5% Swing 0.6 2.9 3.2
Results byelectorate
Chief Minister before election Andrew Barr Labor–Greens Coalition ElectedChief Minister Andrew Barr Labor–Greens Coalition

The2020 Australian Capital Territory election was held on 17 October 2020 to elect all 25 members of theunicameralACT Legislative Assembly.

The incumbentLabor-Greenscoalition government, led byChief MinisterAndrew Barr, defeated the oppositionLiberal Party.^[1] On the night of the election Barr claimed victory and confirmed Labor would again seek toenter into an arrangement with the Greens to form government, whilst Liberal leaderAlistair Coe conceded the election and acknowledged the party would retainopposition status in the Assembly.^[1] The result meant that the Labor Party, which had been in office for 19 years at this election, won a sixth consecutive term of government in the Territory. Despite the victory, Labor's representation in the Assembly dropped to 10 seats, whilst the Liberals also suffered a decline in their vote and fell to 9 seats. The Greens retained thebalance of power and picked up the seats lost by the two larger parties to claim 6 seats, its largest representation in the Assembly in the party's history.^[2] Following the election, Labor and the Greens signed an agreement on 2 November to support a Labor-led Government with three ministers from the Greens.^[3][4][5]

The election was conducted by theACT Electoral Commission, using theproportionalHare-Clark system. At the preliminary close of rolls, there were 302,630 people enrolled to vote, representing a 6% increase on the 2016 election. Legislative changes in the Australian Capital Territory allowed for people to enrol during polling, with a further 3,370 electors enrolling before polling finished on 17 October.^[6]

The incumbentLabor Party led byChief MinisterAndrew Barr was attempting to win re-election for a sixth term in the 25-memberunicameralACT Legislative Assembly. Labor formed a minoritycoalition government with theGreens after the2016 election, with the Greens holding the balance of power; Labor 12 seats, Liberal 11 seats, Greens 2 seats. Greens memberShane Rattenbury remained in the cabinet for a second term. Leader of the Opposition and Liberals leaderJeremy Hanson was replaced byAlistair Coe following the election.

All members of the unicameral Assembly faced re-election, with members being elected by theHare-Clark system ofproportional representation. The Assembly was divided into five electorates with five members each:

• Brindabella – contains the district ofTuggeranong (except part of the suburb ofKambah east of Drakeford Drive), as well as the southern village ofTharwa and farms.
• Ginninderra – contains the district ofBelconnen (except the suburbs ofGiralang andKaleen).
• Kurrajong – contains the districts ofCanberra Central (excludingDeakin andYarralumla),Jerrabomberra,Kowen andMajura.
• Murrumbidgee – contains the districts of theWoden Valley,Weston Creek,Molonglo Valley, theSouth Canberra suburbs ofDeakin andYarralumla and the western part of theTuggeranong suburb ofKambah.
• Yerrabi – contains the districts ofGungahlin,Hall and theBelconnen suburbs ofGiralang andKaleen.

• Last day to lodge applications for party register: 30 June 2020
• Party registration closed: 10 September 2020
• Pre-election period commenced and nominations opened: 11 September 2020
• Rolls close: 18 September 2020 (8pm)
• Nominations close: 23 September 2020 (12pm)
• Nominations declared and ballot paper order determined: 24 September 2020
• Pre-poll voting commences: 28 September 2020
• Polling day: 17 October 2020
• Last day for receipt of postal votes: 23 October 2020^[7]

Aredistribution of electoral boundaries for the ACT took place in 2019 for the 2020 election. The redistribution committee was appointed on 26 October 2018, and its final report was tabled on 13 August 2019.^[8]

Changes were as follows:^[8]

• Brindabella: gainedKambah West from Murrumbidgee.
• Ginninderra: gainedBelconnen District 2,Evatt,Lawson andMcKellar from Yerrabi.
• Kurrajong: lostDeakin andYarralumla to Murrumbidgee.
• Murrumbidgee: gained Deakin and Yarralumla from Kurrajong; lost Kambah West to Brindabella.
• Yerrabi: lost Belconnen District 2, Evatt, Lawson and McKellar to Ginninderra.

• Vicki Dunne (Ginninderra)^[9]

• Caroline Le Couteur (Murrumbidgee)^[10]

137 candidates were formally declared for 2020 ACT Election on 24 September, with the total number of candidates down four from 2016's total. Of the 137 candidates, 129 were registered to political parties and eight were independents.^[11]

As part of the formal declaration, the candidates' names and any political party affiliation were announced, followed by a 'double randomisation' draw for each electorate to determine the order in which each party will appear on the ballot paper. A further draw then took place determining the starting order for theRobson rotations in each column. Under the Robson rotation system, 60 different versions of the ballot papers were printed for each electorate.^[11]

Sitting members are in bold. Successful candidates are identified with an asterisk.

Five seats were up for election. TheLabor Party was defending two seats. TheLiberal Party was defending three seats.

Five seats were up for election. TheLabor Party was defending three seats. TheLiberal Party was defending two seats.

Five seats were up for election. TheLabor Party was defending two seats. TheLiberal Party was defending two seats. TheGreens were defending one seat.

Five seats were up for election. TheLabor Party was defending two seats. TheLiberal Party was defending two seats. TheGreens were defending one seat.

Five seats were up for election. TheLabor Party was defending three seats. TheLiberal Party was defending two seats.

Liberal candidate for Kurrajong, Robert Johnson, was alleged to have been the director of the ACT branch of the Association for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China, an organisation belonging to theChina Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification, which is an umbrella organisation connected to theChinese Communist Party, according to a 9 October 2020 article from theCanberra Times, which claims that his appointment to the position was reported on the parent organisation's official website.^[12][13] An earlierCanberra Times article from 2 October 2020 also reported that Robert Johnson had featured in aChina Central Television documentary which claimed that he served in theAustralian Army in Afghanistan.^[14] In 2014, he was a standing committee member of the Jiangsu Overseas Exchange Association, within the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of theJiangsu Provincial Government.^[15] ACT Liberals leader Alistair Coe denies allegations that Robert Johnson, who is also known as Jiang Jialiang (江嘉梁), has ties to the Chinese Communist Party.^[16][17]

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Labor	101,826	37.82	0.61	10	2
	Liberal	91,047	33.81	2.91	9	2
	Greens	36,369	13.51	3.23	6	4
	Ungrouped Independents	6,625	2.46	1.98	0	0
	Progressives	5,443	2.02	2.02	0	0
	Belco	5,264	1.96	New	0	New
	Animal Justice	4,762	1.77	0.26	0	0
	Sustainable Australia	4,593	1.71	0.14	0	0
	Democratic Labour	3,864	1.44	0.62	0	0
	Shooters, Fishers and Farmers	3,779	1.40	1.40	0	0
	Climate Change Justice Party	1,849	0.69	0.69	0	0
	David Pollard Independent	1,729	0.64	New	0	New
	Liberal Democrats	1,209	0.45	1.61	0	0
	Australian Federation	710	0.26	0.26	0	0
	Community Action	183	0.07	0.10	0	0
Total		269,252	100.00	–	25	–
Valid votes		269,252	98.58
Invalid/blank votes		3,892	1.42
Total votes		273,144	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		306,000	89.26
Source:[18][19]

Labor won 43% of the three-party vote, the Liberals won 39% and the Greens won 18%.^[25]

• Labor–Greens coalition
• Members of the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly, 2016–2020

• List of Candidates. ACT Electoral Commission

• 2020 elections in Australia
• 2020s in the Australian Capital Territory
• October 2020 in Australia
• Elections in the Australian Capital Territory

• Articles with short description
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• Use dmy dates from September 2024
• Use Australian English from September 2024
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