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 14 December 1996 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and all 34 members to the Legislative Council. The

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 ...

–

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

coalition government, led by Premier

Richard Court Richard Fairfax Court (born 27 September 1947) is a former Australian politician and diplomat. He served as Premier of Western Australia from 1993 to 2001 and as Australian Ambassador to Japan from 2017 to 2020. A member of the Liberal Party, ...

, won a second term in office against the Labor Party, 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 ...

Dr Geoff Gallop since 15 October 1996. The election resulted in the Liberals winning an outright majority for the first time in Western Australia's history. Although Court did not need the support of the Nationals, the coalition was retained. Meanwhile, Labor attracted its lowest share of the primary vote since 1901.

Results

Legislative Assembly

Notes: : At the 1993 election, Liberal Party member

Phillip Pendal Phillip George Pendal (4 February 1947 – 3 June 2008) was a Liberal and later Independent Western Australian politician, an opponent of abortion rights, and historian. Early life Born in Bunbury, Western Australia, Phillip Pendal was raised an ...

won the South Perth seat, whilst Labor Party member Ernie Bridge won Kimberley. Both members resigned from their parties during the term of parliament, and won their seats as independents in 1996.

Legislative Council

In the Agricultural and

South West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

regions, the Liberals and Nationals ran a joint ticket, and in Mining and Pastoral, they ran separately, with the Liberals attracting 18,635 of the 52,240 formal votes and the Nationals 5,087.

Seats changing hands

Post-election pendulum

References