The 1986 Tasmanian state election was held on 8 February 1986 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 ...

Tasmania ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

to elect 35 members of the

Tasmanian House of Assembly The House of Assembly, or Lower House, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Tasmania in Australia. The other is the Legislative Council or Upper House. It sits in Parliament House in the state capital, Hobart. The Assembly has 25 m ...

. The election used the Hare-Clark

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

systemHouse of Assembly Elections

Parliament of Tasmania The Parliament of Tasmania is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Tasmania. It follows a Westminster-derived parliamentary system and consists of the Governor of Tasmania, the Tasmanian House of Assembly (the lower house), and T ...

. — seven members were elected from each of five electorates. The quota required for election was 12.5% in each division. The incumbent

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 ...

government headed by Robin Gray hoped to secure a second term in office. The Labor Party was headed by

Ken Wriedt Kenneth Shaw Wriedt (11 July 192718 October 2010) was an Australian politician and leader of the Tasmanian branch of the Australian Labor Party. Wriedt was born in Melbourne, of Danish ancestry. His early life included time spent as a seaman.< ...

. The Green independents were headed by

Bob Brown Robert James Brown (born 27 December 1944) is a former Australian politician, medical doctor and environmentalist. He was a senator and the parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens. Brown was elected to the Australian Senate on the Tasman ...

. The

Australian Democrats The Australian Democrats is a centrist political party in Australia. Founded in 1977 from a merger of the Australia Party and the New Liberal Movement, both of which were descended from Liberal Party dissenting splinter groups, it was Australia ...

contested the electorates of Division of Braddon (state), Braddon and Division of Bass (state), Bass. Green candidates contested the electorates of Division of Denison (state), Denison and Division of Franklin (state), Franklin. Prior to the election the Liberals held 18 of the 35 seats in parliament. The Australian Labor Party (Tasmanian Branch), Labor Party held 14, and there were three independents—former Labor Premier Doug Lowe (Australian politician), Doug Lowe, Tasmanian Greens, Green independent

, and ex-Liberal MHA Gabriel Haros.

Results

The representation of the Liberal and Labor parties remained unchanged after the election, at 19 and 14 respectively, leaving Robin Gray's Liberal government in power. It was the first time in 58 years that a non-Labor government had won a second term in Tasmania. The Greens increased their representation from one to two, with Gerry Bates replacing independent Doug Lowe as the seventh member for the Division of Franklin (Lowe did not contest the election).

Distribution of votes

Primary vote by division

Distribution of seats

Aftermath

Shortly after the election, Ken Wreidt was replaced as Labor leader by Neil Batt.

References