1990 Fremantle state by-election

The 1990 Fremantle state by-election was a by-election held on 26 May 1990 for the Western Australian Legislative Assembly seat of Fremantle. The election occurred on the same day as the 1990 Maylands state by-election.

The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Labor member and former Deputy Premier David Parker on 26 April 1990.

The seat of Fremantle, first established in 1890, was considered to be a safe seat for the Labor Party.

Timeline

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Date Event
26 April 1990 David Parker resigned, vacating the seat of Fremantle.
26 April 1990 Writs were issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly to proceed with a by-election.
4 May 1990 Close of nominations and draw of ballot papers.
26 May 1990 Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm.
6 June 1990 The writ was returned and the results formally declared .

Candidates

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The by-election attracted eleven candidates. Of these, four were notable—Jim McGinty, the Labor candidate, was the secretary of the Miscellaneous Workers' Union. Arthur Marshall, the Liberal candidate, was a veteran sports commentator for the Seven Network who had also founded a tennis academy. Christabel Chamarette, for the new Greens WA party, was a psychologist and social worker. John Troy was the former Labor member for the seat from 1977 to 1980.

Results

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Jim McGinty held the seat for the Labor Party. Despite winning the seat comfortably, his votes trailed those of the Liberal candidate by several hundred votes until the tenth count, when the Greens preferences and through them the majority of John Troy's preferences were distributed.

Fremantle state by-election, 1990[1]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Arthur Marshall 6,356 35.70 +5.40
Labor Jim McGinty 6,009 33.75 -8.89
Greens Christabel Chamarette 2,209 12.41 +7.51
John Troy 1,652 9.58 -3.26
Independent Peter Tagliaferri 645 3.62 +3.62
Democrats Peter Nettleton 293 1.65 -3.46
Independent Philip Hooper 266 1.49 +1.49
Independent Marie Murray 105 0.59 +0.59
Independent Jeff Brockway 103 0.58 +0.58
Grey Power Richard Finney 96 0.54 -3.66
Independent Alfred Bussell 68 0.38 +0.38
Total formal votes 17,802 94.72 +5.15
Informal votes 992 5.28 −5.15
Turnout 18,794 82.46 −7.34
Two-party-preferred result
Labor Jim McGinty 9,770 54.88 -7.53
Liberal Arthur Marshall 8,032 45.12 +7.53
Labor hold Swing -7.53

References

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  1. ^ Black, David; Prescott, Valerie (1997). Election statistics, Legislative Assembly of Western Australia, 1890-1996. Perth: Parliamentary History Project and Western Australian Electoral Commission. pp. 102, 393. ISBN 0-7309-8409-5.