The 2008 Lyne by-election was held for the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. The term of members of the ...

seat of Lyne on 6 September 2008. This was triggered by the resignation of National Party MP

Mark Vaile Mark Anthony James Vaile (born 18 April 1956) is a former deputy prime minister of Australia and former leader of the National Party of Australia. Vaile is currently a non-executive director of a number of public listed corporations. Early li ...

. The

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

was held on the same day as the Mayo by-election, and the Western Australian state election. The

writ In common law, a writ (Anglo-Saxon ''gewrit'', Latin ''breve'') is a formal written order issued by a body with administrative or judicial jurisdiction; in modern usage, this body is generally a court. Warrants, prerogative writs, subpoenas, a ...

for the by-election was issued on 4 August, with the

rolls Roll or Rolls may refer to: Movement about the longitudinal axis * Roll angle (or roll rotation), one of the 3 angular degrees of freedom of any stiff body (for example a vehicle), describing motion about the longitudinal axis ** Roll (aviation), ...

closing on 8 August. Candidate nominations closed 14 August. The by-election was contested on the same boundaries drawn for Lyne at the

2007 federal election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not i ...

. At that election, the National Party won the seat over the Labor Party by a two-party preferred margin of 58.58% to 41.42%. The election was won by

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate

Rob Oakeshott Robert James Murray Oakeshott (born 14 December 1969) is a retired Australian politician. He was the independent Member of the House of Representatives for the Division of Lyne in New South Wales from 2008, when he won the 2008 Lyne by-electi ...

Background

Vaile first won the seat of Lyne at the 1993 election for the Nationals in a very close contest with the Liberal candidate. In ministerial positions since 1997, he became leader of the National Party and thus

Deputy Prime Minister A deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some countries, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, ...

in the Howard government from 2005. At the

, the opposition Labor Party defeated 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 ...

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, ce ...

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 ...

government. This marked the first change of government in over 11 years. Following the coalition election defeat, Vaile announced on 19 July 2008 his intention to resign his seat, to take effect on 30 July 2008. This followed

Peter McGauran Peter John McGauran (born 16 November 1955) is a former Australian politician who served as a National Party member of the Australian House of Representatives. He represented the Division of Gippsland in Victoria from 5 March 1983 to 9 April 2 ...

Gippsland Gippsland is a rural region that makes up the southeastern part of Victoria, Australia, mostly comprising the coastal plains to the rainward (southern) side of the Victorian Alps (the southernmost section of the Great Dividing Range). It covers ...

and former Foreign Minister

Alexander Downer Alexander John Gosse Downer (born 9 September 1951) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who was leader of the Liberal Party from 1994 to 1995, Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1996 to 2007, and High Commissioner to the United King ...

Mayo Mayo often refers to: * Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo" * Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States Mayo may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land Australia * Division of Mayo, an Aust ...

Candidates

Neither the Labor Party nor the Liberal Party stood a candidate.

Results

Oakeshott obtained a majority of votes in every polling booth, with the exception of Dyers Crossing, receiving about two-thirds of the primary vote and three-quarters of the two-candidate vote. 2008 Lyne federal by-election preference distribution

2008 Lyne federal by-election preference distribution

() resigned.

References

External links

* {{Aus by-elections 42nd parl 2008 elections in Australia New South Wales federal by-elections

Background

Candidates

Results

See also

References

External links