Elections were held in the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

on 8 February 1986 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and 17 members to the 34-seat Legislative Council. The

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the la ...

government, led by Premier Brian Burke, won a second term in office against the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

, led by

Opposition Leader The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

Bill Hassell William Ralph Boucher Hassell, best known as Bill Hassell, (born 6 June 1943) is an Australian former Liberal Party politician who was Leader of the Opposition in Western Australia during the mid-1980s. He was a member of the Western Australian ...

since 16 February 1984. The election resulted in one of Labor's best state election results after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, and featured a united National Party for the first time since the 1977 election.

Results

Legislative Assembly

Notes: : The National Country Party (NCP) and the National Party (NP), which had been two separate parties from 1978 onwards, united in 1985 to form the National Party. Three sitting members who had previously identified as National Country Party stood for the Liberal Party in 1986, with two losing their seats to the Nationals, and the other ( Bert Crane in Moore) retaining his seat. The Nationals also gained Avon from the Labor Party, and Mount Marshall from the Liberals, who had held it for a single term.

Legislative Council

Seats changing parties

* Members listed in italics did not contest their seat at this election. * * figure is vs. Liberal * ** figure is vs. Labor * *** figure is vs. National (pre-merger)

Post-election pendulum

Opinion polling

References

{{Western Australian elections Elections in Western Australia 1986 elections in Australia 1980s in Western Australia February 1986 events in Australia