A general election for the Tasmanian House of Assembly was held on Saturday 20 July 2002. The Labor government led by PremierJim Bacon was won a second term against the Liberal Party Opposition headed by Opposition Leader Bob Cheek in a landslide. The election was marked by a strong swing to both the Labor Party and the Tasmanian Greens at the expense of the Liberals, with Cheek losing his own seat.
Bacon and the Labor Party campaigned on a platform of revitalising the state after the 1990s-era economic reforms of successive Liberal governments, while maintaining law and order and a strong economy, and promoting tourism in particular. In response, Cheek and the Liberals claimed that the government had abandoned small business and promised a wide range of spending initiatives - something that was seized upon by Bacon as a means of attacking the Liberals' economic credentials. The Tasmanian Greens, under leader Peg Putt, campaigned as an alternative to both major parties, concentrating on environmental issues, which are often an area of bipartisan agreement among the Tasmanian major parties.
The results of the election were somewhat unexpected. The government retained its 14 seats in the 25-member parliament and recorded a swing in their favour in all five electorates. The Liberal Party had held ten seats before the election, but lost three to the Greens, who subsequently went from one to four seats. The Greens gained 18.1% of the statewide vote, their highest on record. In the Hobart-based seat of Denison, the Greens polled 24.5%, outpolling the main Opposition Liberal Party.
The election had major impacts on both the Liberals and Tasmanian Greens, while leaving Labor largely unchanged. The Liberals suffered a swing of over 10 percent and lost three seats, including that of their leader, Bob Cheek–the first major-party leader in Tasmania to lose his own seat since 1903.[citation needed]Rene Hidding was elected as his successor.
In contrast to the misfortune of the Liberal Party, the election saw the unexpected revival of the Greens. The reduction of the size of the Assembly in 1998, from 35 to 25, had increased the quota necessary to win a seat to 16.7%. Both major parties portrayed this as a way to cut the costs of government, but the Greens saw it as an attempt to eradicate them. At the 1998 election, all of their MPs except one, Peg Putt, were defeated. However, they managed to markedly increase their vote in the 2002 poll, and picked up three new MPs, Kim Booth, Nick McKim and Tim Morris.
2002, tasmanian, state, election, general, election, tasmanian, house, assembly, held, saturday, july, 2002, labor, government, premier, bacon, second, term, against, liberal, party, opposition, headed, opposition, leader, cheek, landslide, election, marked, s. A general election for the Tasmanian House of Assembly was held on Saturday 20 July 2002 The Labor government led by Premier Jim Bacon was won a second term against the Liberal Party Opposition headed by Opposition Leader Bob Cheek in a landslide The election was marked by a strong swing to both the Labor Party and the Tasmanian Greens at the expense of the Liberals with Cheek losing his own seat 2002 Tasmanian state election 1998 20 July 2002 2006 All 25 seats to the House of Assembly13 seats needed for a majority First party Second party Third party LAB LIBLeader Jim Bacon Bob Cheek Peg PuttParty Labor Liberal GreensLeader since 14 April 1997 20 August 2001 29 August 1998Leader s seat Denison Denison lost seat DenisonLast election 14 seats 10 seats 1 seatSeats won 14 7 4Seat change 3 3Popular vote 153 798 81 185 53 746Percentage 51 88 27 38 18 13 Swing 7 09 10 67 7 95Election results and largest party by first preference by divisionPremier before electionJim BaconLabor Elected Premier Jim BaconLaborBacon and the Labor Party campaigned on a platform of revitalising the state after the 1990s era economic reforms of successive Liberal governments while maintaining law and order and a strong economy and promoting tourism in particular In response Cheek and the Liberals claimed that the government had abandoned small business and promised a wide range of spending initiatives something that was seized upon by Bacon as a means of attacking the Liberals economic credentials The Tasmanian Greens under leader Peg Putt campaigned as an alternative to both major parties concentrating on environmental issues which are often an area of bipartisan agreement among the Tasmanian major parties The results of the election were somewhat unexpected The government retained its 14 seats in the 25 member parliament and recorded a swing in their favour in all five electorates The Liberal Party had held ten seats before the election but lost three to the Greens who subsequently went from one to four seats The Greens gained 18 1 of the statewide vote their highest on record In the Hobart based seat of Denison the Greens polled 24 5 outpolling the main Opposition Liberal Party The election had major impacts on both the Liberals and Tasmanian Greens while leaving Labor largely unchanged The Liberals suffered a swing of over 10 percent and lost three seats including that of their leader Bob Cheek the first major party leader in Tasmania to lose his own seat since 1903 citation needed Rene Hidding was elected as his successor In contrast to the misfortune of the Liberal Party the election saw the unexpected revival of the Greens The reduction of the size of the Assembly in 1998 from 35 to 25 had increased the quota necessary to win a seat to 16 7 Both major parties portrayed this as a way to cut the costs of government but the Greens saw it as an attempt to eradicate them At the 1998 election all of their MPs except one Peg Putt were defeated However they managed to markedly increase their vote in the 2002 poll and picked up three new MPs Kim Booth Nick McKim and Tim Morris Contents 1 Results 1 1 Primary vote by division 1 2 Distribution of seats 2 See also 3 ReferencesResults editSee also Results of the Tasmanian state election 2002 Tasmanian state election 20 July 2002House of Assembly lt lt 1998 2006 gt gt Enrolled voters 332 473Votes cast 311 637 Turnout 93 73 1 28Informal votes 15 167 Informal 4 87 0 96Summary of votes by partyParty Primary votes Swing Seats Change Labor 153 798 51 88 7 09 14 0 Liberal 81 185 27 38 10 67 7 3 Greens 53 746 18 13 7 95 4 3 Democrats 2 019 0 68 0 21 0 0 Socialist Alliance 722 0 24 0 21 0 0 Tasmania First 529 0 18 4 92 0 0 Independent 4 471 1 51 0 52 0 0Total 296 470 25 Primary vote by division edit Bass Braddon Denison Franklin LyonsLabor Party 49 1 53 2 50 8 51 7 54 6 Liberal Party 31 4 33 1 22 9 23 7 25 7 Tasmanian Greens 16 5 12 0 24 5 20 4 17 2 Other 3 0 1 7 1 7 4 2 2 6 Distribution of seats edit Electorate Seats heldBass Braddon Denison Franklin Lyons Labor Liberal GreenSee also editMembers of the Tasmanian House of Assembly 2002 2006 Candidates of the 2002 Tasmanian state electionReferences editTasmanian Parliamentary Library 2002 election results Voting by Division from Adam Carr s Electoral Archive Australian Parliamentary Library research note Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title 2002 Tasmanian state election amp oldid 1172109613, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
