Northern Territory general election, 1987

Northern Territory general election, 1987

1983 ← 7 March 1987 (1987-03-07) → 1990

All 25 seats of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly   First party Second party   Leader Stephen Hatton Terry Smith Party Country Liberal Party Labor Leader since 14 May 1986 19 August 1986 Leader's seat Nightcliff Millner Last election 19 seats 6 seats Seats won 16 seats 6 seats Seat change 3 0 Percentage 39.4% 36.0% Swing 9.4 0.4

Chief Minister before election Stephen Hatton Country Liberal Party Elected Chief Minister Stephen Hatton Country Liberal Party

A general election was held in the Northern Territory on Saturday 7 March 1987. Although the incumbent Country Liberal Party (CLP) won a majority under new leader Stephen Hatton, the party's vote was down almost 20 percentage points.

At the 1987 election, the CLP faced a challenge from the Northern Territory Nationals, a rebel conservative party led by former CLP Chief Minister Ian Tuxworth that was aligned with then-Queensland Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen, but not affiliated with the federal National Party of Australia. The NT Nationals took 17.79% of the primary vote, mostly from the CLP, but finished with only one member in the assembly. Hatton, despite a loss of three seats, retained a working majority.

Labor's vote remained virtually unchanged. As in 1983, its assembly tally was six.

Two former-CLP independents were re-elected in their seats. Noel Padgham-Purich was re-elected to Koolpinyah, while Denis Collins was re-elected to Sadadeen as an independent. Former Chief Minister Ian Tuxworth was also re-elected as a member of the NT Nationals.