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 seat of

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

in the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

was held on 12 November 2016. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of

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 ...

MP and former interim Labor leader

Linda Burney Linda Jean Burney (born 25 April 1957) is an Australian politician and is an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing Barton since the 2016 federal election. She is Minister for Indigenous Australi ...

on 6 May to contest the division of Barton at the 2016 federal election. By-elections for the seats of

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower *Orange (colour), from the color of an orange, occurs between red and yellow in the visible spectrum * ...

and

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

were held on the same day.

Background

In its second incarnation from 1927, the

electoral district of Canterbury Canterbury is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, currently represented by Sophie Cotsis of the Labor Party. Canterbury includes the suburbs of Campsie, Canterbury, Clemton Park, E ...

has been held by the Labor Party, excepting between 1932 and 1935 when Edward Hocking held the seat for the

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

following the

Lang dismissal crisis The 1932 dismissal of Premier Jack Lang by New South Wales Governor Philip Game was the first real constitutional crisis in Australia. Lang remains the only Australian premier to be removed from office by his governor, using the reserve po ...

was elected to represent Canterbury at the 2003 state election, becoming the first Aboriginal person to serve in the New South Wales Parliament. Burney was most recently re-elected to the seat at the 2015 state election with a margin of 15.7, making Canterbury a safe seat for the Labor Party. On 29 February 2016, Burney indicated that she would be seeking preselection for the federal seat of Barton in the upcoming federal election, and would resign from the assembly if successful. In March, the NSW branch of the Labor Party referred the preselection decisions for the federal seats of Barton and Hunter, and Canterbury, to the party's national executive.

Sophie Cotsis Sophie Cotsis (born 19 November 1973) is an Australian politician. She was a Labor member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 7 September 2010 to 16 September 2016, when she resigned in order to contest a by-election for the Legisl ...

, a member of the Legislative Council since 2010, was preselected.

Dates

Candidates

The three candidates in ballot paper order are as follows:

Results

() resigned.

References

External links