Tuesday, 21st March, 2006

The two major parties in Saturday's South Australian upper house election between them managed just 62% of the vote with minor parties and independents between them accounting for 38%. While Labor managed an increase of 3.5 percentage points on its 2002 performance to 36.5% , the Liberal vote dropped markedly by more than 14 points to 25.7%.

The big winner was undoubtedly the independent No Pokies candidate Nick Xenophon with a 21.5% share while the Greens and Family First will be encouraged by their growth in support. The big loser was the Democrats - down to just 1.7% from their 7.3% in 2002 and 16.9% in 1997. South Australia has long been the strongest state for the Democrats and their collapse in this state election does not augur well for the Party's survival at any level. The poor vote for One Nation suggests that this particular political phenomenon has come to an end.

The table below shows the voting trend for the last three SA Legislative Council elections.