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 ...

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

Griffith Griffith may refer to: People * Griffith (name) * Griffith (surname) * Griffith (given name) Places Antarctica * Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency * Griffith Peak (Antarctica), Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Glacier, Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Rid ...

occurred on Saturday 8 February 2014.

Terri Butler Terri Megan Butler (born 28 November 1977) is a former Australian politician and a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). Butler formerly represented the Division of Griffith in the House of Representatives from the 2014 by-election to the ...

retained the seat for

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 labour ...

with a 51.8 (−1.2) percent

two-party A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referr ...

vote against Liberal National Party candidate

Bill Glasson Bill Glasson may refer to: *Bill Glasson (golfer) (born 1960), American golfer *Bill Glasson (politician) (1925–2012), Australian politician *Bill Glasson (surgeon) William John Glasson (born 2 January 1953) is an Australian ophthalmologist. ...

Background

Former

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Kevin Rudd Kevin Michael Rudd (born 21 September 1957) is an Australian former politician and diplomat who served as the 26th prime minister of Australia from 2007 to 2010 and again from June 2013 to September 2013, holding office as the leader of the ...

announced on 13 November 2013 that he would step down from the parliament after his party's defeat at the 2013 election. The division of Griffith is located in the inner suburbs of Queensland's capital city,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. Since the seat's creation in 1934, Griffith has changed parties eight times. Labor's Kevin Rudd had held the seat since regaining it for Labor in 1998, having previously unsuccessfully contested the seat in 1996. Rudd retained Griffith at the 2013 election with 53 percent of the

two-party-preferred vote 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, ...

from primary votes of Liberal 42.2 percent, Labor 40.4 percent, Greens 10.2 percent, Palmer 3.4 percent, with the remaining seven candidates on a collective 3.8 percent. Rudd's support was highest in Griffith at the 2007 election with 62.3 percent of the two-party vote when he led Labor to government. At the 2010 election he retained his seat with 58.5 percent of the two-party vote. The tender of the resignation to the Speaker took place on 22 November 2013. The writ for the election was issued on 6 January 2014. Electoral rolls closed 8pm 13 January 2014, candidate nominations closed midday 16 January 2014, with declaration of candidate nominations and ballot order draw occurring midday 17 January 2014. The by-election occurred between 8am and 6pm on 8 February 2014. It was the first by-election for the House of Representatives since the Bradfield and Higgins by-elections in December 2009, the second longest interval between by-elections.

Candidates

The 11 candidate nominations in ballot paper order were: The

Palmer United Party The United Australia Party (UAP), formerly known as Clive Palmer's United Australia Party and the Palmer United Party (PUP), is a currently deregistered Australian political party formed by mining magnate Clive Palmer in April 2013. The party ...

Rise Up Australia Party Rise Up Australia Party was a far-right political party in Australia. The party's policy platform was focused on nationalist and Christian conservative issues, such as opposing Islamic immigration and religious freedom for Australian Musli ...

and Socialist Alliance did not re-contest Griffith at the by-election.

Betting/polling

Upon the 6 January announcement of the by-election date, odds from

Sportingbet Sportingbet is a British online gambling operator, owned by GVC Holdings plc. The company was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE SmallCap Index prior to its acquisition by GVC. History The company was founde ...

favoured Labor at $1.18 against $4.25 for the LNP. Queensland federal statewide

Newspoll Newspoll is an Australian opinion polling brand, published by ''The Australian'' and administered by international market research and data analytics group, YouGov. Newspoll has a long tradition of predicting Australian Federal Election resul ...

conducted from October to December 2013 indicated a three percent

swing from the LNP to Labor since the 2013 election, while Nielsen conducted in November 2013 indicated a 12 percent two-party swing from the LNP to Labor. The last and only time a federal government won a by-election from an opposition was at the 1920 Kalgoorlie by-election. Political analysts predicted that Labor would retain Griffith.

Two-party-preferred history

Results

Results are final. The ABC's

Antony Green Antony John Green (born 2 March 1960) is an Australian psephologist and commentator. He is the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's chief election analyst. Early years and background Born in Warrington, Lancashire, in northern England, Gree ...

said at 8pm on election night that

had retained the seat for Labor.Griffith by-election: Labor's Terri Butler wins despite swing to LNP candidate Bill Glasson: ABC 8 February 2014
/ref>

External links

2014 Griffith by-election: Antony Green ABC

References

{{Aus by-elections 44th parl 2014 elections in Australia Queensland federal by-elections 2010s in Queensland