1988 Wallsend state by-election

A by-election was held for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly electorate of Wallsend on 17 December 1988 because of the death of the Labor member Ken Booth.[1]

It was won by Labor candidate John Mills in the absence of a Liberal candidate.[2] Mills had been Booth's preferred successor, and although several Labor ministers had lost their seats at the previous election, it was reported that due to "considerable disaffection with the ALP in the region at the last election" and multiple seats lost to independents the party was keen to see Booth elected with "as little fuss as possible".[3] Mills won the seat against three independents with over 55% of the vote, although there was only a "modest" voter turnout of about 80%.[4] The timing of the by-election had been unusual, just over a week before Christmas, and had been attacked by Opposition Leader Bob Carr as "unheard of" and likely to decrease turnout.[5]

Dates
Date Event
2 November 1988 Death of Ken Booth.[1]
30 November 1988 Writ of election issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.[6]
7 December 1988 Nominations
17 December 1988 Polling day
6 January 1989 Return of writ

Results
1988 Wallsend by-election [2]
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Labor John Mills 15,671 55.8 -3.6
Independent Lindsay Bradley 8,485 30.2
Independent Paul Stocker 2,555 9.1
Independent Philip Laver 1,377 4.9
Total formal votes 28,088 97.0 +1.0
Informal votes 870 3.0 -1.0
Turnout 28,958 87.7 -8.3
Two-candidate-preferred result
Labor John Mills 17,011 63.4 +4.0
Independent Lindsay Bradley 9,817 36.6
Labor hold Swing+4.0 [lower-alpha 1]
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gollark: *L*i*n*u*x*
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See also

Notes
  1. compared to the two-candidate-preferred result for the 1988 Wallsend election.

References
  1. "The Hon. Kenneth George Booth (1926–1988)". Former Members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
  2. Green, Antony. "1988 Wallsend by-election". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 29 November 2019.
  3. "Booth's death forces another by-election". Sydney Morning Herald. 2 November 1988. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  4. "ALP Wallsend win ends independents' run". Sydney Morning Herald. 19 December 1988. Retrieved 1 December 2019.
  5. "By-election timing angers Opposition". Sydney Morning Herald. 5 December 1988.
  6. "Writ of election: Wallsend". New South Wales Government Gazette (177). 30 November 1988. p. 6173. Retrieved 13 November 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
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