Nominations open this Wednesday for the Victorian state election, and nominations close next Friday, 14 November. Today is also the deadline for party registrations for the upcoming state election, and a number of new parties recently achieved registration for Victorian elections.
So far, I’ve identified 361 candidates running for the Legislative Assembly. This compares to 502 candidates who ran in the 2010 election, so it remains to be seen whether the number of candidates will exceed the number at the last election.
So far, Labor candidates have been announced in 85 out of 88 seats – Labor is yet to announce candidates in Gippsland East, Gippsland South or Murray Plains.
The Liberal Party has announced candidates in 79 seats, and the Nationals have announced 12 candidates. Broadmeadows is the only seat where no Coalition candidate has been announced, while Liberal and National are both running in four seats: Buninyong, Eildon, Euroa and Ripon.
The Greens have announced candidates in 78 seats.
The list includes candidates running for seven other minor parties, including 27 Country Alliance candidates, 17 running for the Australian Christians and 14 for Rise Up Australia. In addition, I’ve identified 35 candidates running either as independents or for unregistered parties.
As always, I’ve broken down the data by the gender of candidates. Just under 30% of candidates running are women – 108 out of 361 candidates.
43.5% of Labor candidates are women, which is a much higher rate than for the Liberal Party or the Greens. 26.6% of Liberal candidates are women, as are 25.6% of Greens candidates and 25% of Nationals candidates.
At the 2010 election, 43.2% of Greens candidates in the Legislative Assembly were women, so it is a significant change in gender balance for a party that normally outperforms the major parties in gender balance. The Greens ran 38 women in 2010, and so far have only announced 20 female candidates. It should be noted, however, that this gender imbalance is not reflected amongst the party’s MPs and electable candidates.
You can view the candidate list here.
There are now seventeen political parties registered for the upcoming state election.
A number of these parties achieved registration recently, including the Shooters and Fishers, the Australian Cyclists Party, Rise Up Australia, the Palmer United Party and the Voluntary Euthanasia Party.
There are others who have attempted to achieve party registration, and appear set to fall short. This includes the Basics Rock’n’Roll Party founded by members of The Basics band.
Ben
Why do you bother referring to the total numbers of candidates. You are only interested in the major parties!
John Flanagan
Non-Custodial Parents Party (Equal Parenting)
I don’t think that’s fair. I discuss a number of different parties, but as the chart shows the vast majority of candidates who are running are from Labor, Liberal and Greens. They are also the parties that most voters cast votes for.
3 more parties have gained registration before the deadline – the Liberal Democratic Party, the Basics Rock’n’Roll Party and Voice for the West
http://www.vec.vic.gov.au/media/20141104-VictorianStateElectionParties2014.html
John Flanagan’s comments about Ben Raue are unfair. I have been associated with two minor parties and unlike the major media outlets I think Tally Room has given minor parties a fair go.
It is not as if Ben and I have always agreed. Last year I was threatened with a blocking if I continued to reveal what I believe to be the truth.
I had never heard of Ben’s Party before seeing it on Tally Room. I will bet John is notr getting air time on ABC or room in The Age.
Andrew Jackson
apjackson@hotkey.net.au
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