2012 Northern Territory general election

2012 Northern Territory general election

← 2008 25 August 2012 2016 →
All 25 seats of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly 13 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	76.9 ( 1.3 pp)
First party Second party   Leader Terry Mills Paul Henderson Party Country Liberal Labor Leader since 29 January 2008 26 November 2007 Leader's seat Blain Wanguri Last election 11 seats 13 seats Seats before 11 12 Seats won 16 8 Seat change 5 4 Popular vote 46,653 33,594 Percentage 50.6% 36.5% Swing 5.2 6.7 TPP 55.8%[1] 44.2%[1] TPP swing 5.1 5.1
Chief Minister before election Paul Henderson Labor Elected Chief Minister Terry Mills Country Liberal

A general election was held in the Northern Territory on Saturday 25 August 2012, which elected all 25 members of the Legislative Assembly in the unicameral Northern Territory Parliament.

The 11-year Labor Party government led by Chief Minister Paul Henderson was decisively defeated in their attempt to win a fourth term against the opposition Country Liberal Party led by opposition leader Terry Mills with a swing of five seats, losing the normally safe Labor remote seats of Arafura, Arnhem, Daly, Namatjira and Stuart, whilst retaining their urban seats picked up at the 2001 election.^[2][3]

The election was the beginning of an ongoing political realignment in the Northern Territory. Traditionally, remote Indigenous communities had strongly voted Labor. However, at this election, there was a large swing against Labor in Indigenous communities, resulting in the CLP gaining five remote seats usually considered safe Labor seats.