The 1988 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 1 October 1988, was for the 51st

Parliament of Victoria The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria that follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the King, represented by the Governor of Victoria, the Legislative Assembly and ...

. It was held in the

Australian state The states and territories are federated administrative divisions in Australia, ruled by regional governments that constitute the second level of governance between the federal government and local governments. States are self-governing ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

to elect all 88 members of the state's Legislative Assembly and 22 members of the 44-member Legislative Council. The incumbent Labor Party government led by

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

John Cain Jr. won a third term in office, despite a swing against it, and only lost the seat of

Warrandyte Warrandyte is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 24 km north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Manningham local government area. Warrandyte recorded a population of 5,541 at the . Warrandy ...

in Melbourne's north-east. This was credited by commentators to a strong campaign targeting

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

leader

Jeff Kennett Jeffrey Gibb Kennett (born 2 March 1948) is a former Australian politician who was the 43rd Premier of Victoria between 1992 and 1999, and currently a media commentator. He was previously the president of the Hawthorn Football Club, serving ...

whose aggressive leadership style was still seen as a liability, as well as continuing instability in the federal

Coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

. Labor's narrow wins in middle class marginal seats saw it retain its majority despite the Liberals winning a bare majority of the

two party preferred In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP) is the result of an election or opinion poll after preferences have been distributed to the highest two candidates, who in some cases can be independents. For the purposes of TPP, ...

vote.

Results

Legislative Assembly

Legislative Council

Seats changing hands

*Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.

Key dates

Post-election pendulum

Aftermath

On 23 May 1989,

was voted out of the Liberal leadership in favour of Alan Brown; Brown led the party until 23 April 1991 when he was also forced out after a successful comeback by Kennett. During Brown's period as Opposition Leader, the Liberals negotiated the first coalition agreement with the Nationals in over forty years, in part due to a belief by some (in spite of what political scientist Brian Costar called a "lack of psephological evidence to support this assertion") that had the parties been in coalition at the election, they would have won.B. J. Costar, 'Coalition Government: An Unequal Partnership' in B. J. Costar & N. Economou (eds) ''The Kennett Revolution: Victorian Politics in the 1990s'', UNSW Press, Sydney, 1998, p. 89