2026 South Australian state election
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All 47 seats in the South Australian House of Assembly 24 seats are needed for a majority 11 (of the 22) seats in the South Australian Legislative Council | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The 2026 South Australian state election will be held on 21 March 2026 to elect members to the 56th Parliament of South Australia. All 47 seats in the House of Assembly (the lower house, whose members were elected at the 2022 election), and half the seats in the Legislative Council (the upper house, last filled at the 2018 election) are up for re-election.
The incumbent Labor government, led by Premier Peter Malinauskas, will attempt to win a second four-year term against the Liberal opposition, led by party leader Vincent Tarzia.
South Australia has compulsory voting, uses full-preference instant-runoff voting for single-member electorates in the lower house, and optional preference single transferable voting in the proportionally represented upper house. The election will be conducted by the Electoral Commission of South Australia (ECSA), an independent body answerable to Parliament.
The election will be held on the same day as the South Australian First Nations Voice election.[1][2]
Background
[edit]At the 2022 election, the South Australian Labor Party won government after spending four years in opposition. The party, led by Peter Malinauskas, gained 8 seats to have a four-seat majority in the House of Assembly, while the incumbent South Australian Liberal Party government, led by Premier Steven Marshall, lost a total of nine seats to Labor and independents. Statewide the Labor Party won 54.59% of the two-party preferred vote, which was a swing of over 6.5%.[3][4][5][6]
In the Legislative Council, Labor won five seats, the Liberals won four and the Greens and One Nation both won one seat each. As a result, the Labor government held a total of nine seats and the Liberal held eight, with five on the crossbench, including two Greens, two SA-Best representatives and a single One Nation seat held by Sarah Game).[3][4][5] Following the election, the Presidency of the council was unexpectedly retained by Liberal MLC Terry Stephens, meaning the Labor government required an additional two non-government votes for passage of legislation.[3][4][5]
By-elections
[edit]Three by-elections have been held during the parliament's four-year term. A by-election in Bragg was held in July 2022 and the seat was retained by the Liberals. In March 2024 the Labor Party gained the seat of Dunstan, which had belonged to former Liberal Premier Steven Marshall. Labor's majority therefore increased by one, though when Leon Bignell was elected to the position of Speaker of the Assembly the following month, the party composition returned to its post-election state, as the Speaker is required to renounce party ties for the duration of their speakership.[7]
Labor again gained when the party won the November 2024 by-election in the seat of Black, recording a double-digit swing. The result reduced the Liberals to 13 members in the lower house, their worst parliamentary position in nearly a century.[8]
Legislative Council changes
[edit]As of May 2025, there have been three alterations to the post-election party composition in the Legislative Council. SA-Best MLC Frank Pangallo left the party and moved to the crossbench to sit as an independent in December 2023.[9] Liberal MLC Jing Lee became an independent and moved to the crossbench in January 2025,[10] and Greens MLC Tammy Franks quit the party and sat as an independent in May 2025.[11]
Pendulum
[edit]The pendulum includes mid-term affiliation changes and by-election outcomes, in particular the Dunstan by-election and Black by-election which saw Labor take both seats away from the Liberals.
Redistributed notional pendulum
[edit]A redistribution, required after each election, was finalised by the South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission in December 2024. The below post-redistribution pendulum shows all seats by their redistributed Labor or Liberal notional two-party-preferred margin.[12][13]
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Date
[edit]The last state election was held on 19 March 2022 to elect members for the House of Assembly and half of the members in the Legislative Council. In South Australia, section 28 of the Constitution Act 1934, as amended in 2001, directs that parliaments have fixed four-year terms, and elections must be held on the third Saturday in March every four years unless this date falls the day after Good Friday, occurs within the same month as a federal election, or the conduct of the election could be adversely affected by a state disaster. Section 28 also states that the Governor may also dissolve the Assembly and call an election for an earlier date if the government has lost the confidence of the Assembly or a bill of special importance has been rejected by the Legislative Council. Section 41 states that both the Council and the Assembly may also be dissolved simultaneously if a deadlock occurs between them.[14]
The Electoral (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2013[15] introduced set dates for writs for general elections in South Australia. The writ sets the dates for the close of the electoral roll and the close of nominations for an election. The Electoral Act 1985 requires that, for a general election, the writ be issued 28 days before the date fixed for polling (S47(2a)) and the electoral roll be closed at 12 noon, six days after the issue of the writ (S48(3(a)(i))). The close of nominations will be at 12 noon three days after the close of rolls (Electoral Act 1985 S48(4)(a) and S4(1)).[16][17][18]
Opinion polling
[edit]Voting intention
[edit]House of Assembly
[edit]| Primary vote |
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| Date | Firm | Primary vote | TPP vote | ||||||
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| ALP | LIB | GRN | ONP | SAB | OTH | ALP | LIB | ||
| 18–23 February 2025 | DemosAU[19][20] | 43% | 30% | 10% | – | – | 17% | 59% | 41% |
| 6–29 August 2024 | Wolf & Smith[21][22] | 41% | 28% | 11% | 5% | – | 15% | 60% | 40% |
| 12 August 2024 Vincent Tarzia becomes Liberal leader | |||||||||
| 11–20 September 2022 | Dynata[23] | 34% | 34% | 13% | 5% | 6% | 8% | 53% | 47% |
| 19 March 2022 election | 39.97% | 35.67% | 9.12% | 2.63% | 0.20% | 12.41% | 54.59% | 45.10% | |
Legislative Council
[edit]| Primary vote | ||
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| Date | Firm | Primary vote | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ALP | LIB | GRN | ONP | SAB | OTH | ||
| 11–20 September 2022 | Dynata[23] | 35% | 32% | 13% | 4% | 7% | 9% |
| 19 March 2022 election | 36.96% | 34.38% | 9.03% | 4.23% | 1.05% | 14.38% | |
Leadership approval
[edit]| Date | Firm | Preferred Premier | Malinauskas | Speirs/Tarzia | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Malinauskas | Tarzia | Undecided | Satisfied | Dissatisfied | Undecided | Satisfied | Dissatisfied | Undecided | ||
| 18–23 February 2025 | DemosAU[19] | 51% | 23% | 26% | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| 12 August 2024: Vincent Tarzia becomes Liberal leader | ||||||||||
| Malinauskas | Speirs | Undecided | Satisfied | Dissatisfied | Undecided | Satisfied | Dissatisfied | Undecided | ||
| March 2023 | Dynata[23] | — | — | — | 74% | 13% | 13% | 51% | 19% | 30% |
Retiring MPs
[edit]Liberal
[edit]- John Gardner MHA (Morialta) – announced 13 December 2024[24]
- David Pisoni MHA (Unley) – announced 8 October 2024[25]
Greens
[edit]- Tammy Franks MLC – announced 30 September 2024[26]
Independent
[edit]- Dan Cregan MHA (Kavel) – announced 28 January 2025[27]
See also
[edit]- Members of the South Australian House of Assembly, 2022–2026
- Members of the South Australian Legislative Council, 2022–2026
References
[edit]- ^ "Key dates". 2024 South Australian First Nations Voice election.
- ^ Keane, Daniel (29 March 2024). "SA First Nations Voice election results show low turnout, but candidate urges 'give us a chance'". ABC News. Retrieved 6 April 2024.
- ^ a b c Harmsen, Nick; Tomevska, Sara (3 May 2022). "Liberal Terry Stephens returned as SA Legislative Council President with support of Greens and Labor". ABC News. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
- ^ a b c Richardson, Tom (3 May 2022). "'Beggars belief': Labor coup sidelines Libs, crossbench". Retrieved 27 March 2023.
- ^ a b c "SA 2022 – Legislative Council Result Finalised". Antony Green's Election Blog. 27 April 2022. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
- ^ Green, Antony (19 March 2022). "2022 South Australian Election – Post Election Thread". Antony Green's Election Blog. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
- ^ McClaren, Rory; Biggs, Harvey (11 April 2024). "Independent MP Dan Cregan to join SA Labor cabinet as minister's resignation triggers reshuffle". ABC News. Archived from the original on 19 February 2025. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
- ^ Hough, Andrew; McGuire, Michael (17 November 2024). "Black by-election: Liberal Party faces SA state election 'annihilation' after midterm whitewash result". The Advertiser.
- ^ "Adelaidenow.com.au | Subscribe to The Advertiser for exclusive stories". www.adelaidenow.com.au. Retrieved 19 March 2025.
- ^ Mason, Olivia (11 January 2025). "Jing Lee announces immediate resignation from SA Liberal party to become Independent MLC". ABC News. Archived from the original on 26 January 2025. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
- ^ Gus Macdonald (13 May 2025). "South Australian Greens co-leader quits party, claiming internal sabotage". 9news.com.au.
- ^ Biggs, Harvey (13 December 2024). "Electorate of Frome to be renamed 'Ngadjuri' as part of 2026 SA election redistribution after concerns about namesake Edward Frome". ABC News. Retrieved 14 January 2025.
- ^ Raue, Ben (13 December 2024) SA redistribution finalised: The Tally Room. Retrieved 15 January 2025.
- ^ Lundie, Rob (30 May 2012). "Australian elections timetable". Background Note. Department of Parliamentary Services. p. 7. Archived from the original on 11 June 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2013 – via Parliamentary Library.
- ^ Electoral (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2013 (SA)
- ^ Electoral Act 1985 (SA) s 47 Issue of writ
- ^ Electoral Act 1985 (SA) s 48 Contents of writ
- ^ Electoral Act 1985 (SA) s 4 Interpretation
- ^ a b Bowe, William (3 March 2025). "DemosAU: 59-41 to Labor in South Australia". The Poll Bludger. Archived from the original on 3 March 2025. Retrieved 3 March 2025.
- ^ "South Australia Poll: Strong lead for SA LABOR". demosau.com. 3 March 2025. Retrieved 20 March 2025.
- ^ Bowe, William (8 September 2024). "Polls: Resolve Strategic, RedBridge/Accent MRP poll, Wolf & Smith federal and state (open thread) – The Poll Bludger". www.pollbludger.net. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
- ^ "Federal & State Political Poll" (PDF). wolf+smith. August 2024. p. 32. Archived (PDF) from the original on 19 February 2025. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
- ^ a b c Richards, Stephanie (28 September 2022). "Poll shows Labor's honeymoon not over". InDaily. Archived from the original on 20 April 2024. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
- ^ Kelsall, Thomas (13 December 2024). "Liberal deputy leader John Gardner to leave parliament". InDaily. Retrieved 28 March 2025.
- ^ Starick, Paul (8 October 2024). "Former Liberal minister David Pisoni expected to be replaced in Unley by Rosalie Rotolo-Hassan". The Advertiser. Retrieved 8 October 2024.
- ^ Franks, Tammy [@TammyMLC] (30 September 2024). "SA Greens nominations for the LegCo preselection open today. I've enjoyed much of my time in #saparli but I won't be going for a further term" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 30 September 2024. Retrieved 30 September 2024 – via Twitter.
- ^ "SA minister Dan Cregan leaves cabinet ahead of retirement from politics". ABC News. 28 January 2025. Archived from the original on 15 February 2025. Retrieved 11 February 2025.