Northern Territory general election, 1977

Northern Territory general election, 1977

1974 ← 13 August 1977 (1977-08-13) → 1980

All 19 seats of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly   First party Second party   Leader Paul Everingham Party Country Liberal Party Labor Leader since 13 August 1977 Leader's seat Jingili Last election 17 seats 0 seats Seats won 12 seats 6 seats Seat change 5 6 Percentage 40.1% 38.2% Swing 8.8 7.8

Majority Leader before election Goff Letts Country Liberal Party Elected Majority Leader Paul Everingham Country Liberal Party

A general election was held in the Northern Territory on Saturday 13 August 1977. Though the election was won by the incumbent Country Liberal Party (CLP), the party lost five of its seven executive members, including Majority Leader Goff Letts. The election also marked the emergence of the Australian Labor Party as a parliamentary force: Labor took six seats in the new assembly.

The Progress Party contested the elections, winning 9.76% of the primary vote across the territory, but failed to secure any assembly seats.

The Country Liberals chose Paul Everingham to replace Letts as Majority Leader. Everingham appointed a new Executive, which included future Chief Ministers Marshall Perron and Ian Tuxworth. The following, year, the Territory attained self-government. Everingham became Chief Minister, his Executive became a Ministry with greatly expanded powers.

Independent Dawn Lawrie retained her seat of Nightcliff at this election, while Ron Withnall lost his seat of Port Darwin to the CLP.

See also

• Everingham Executive
• First Everingham Ministry
• Second Everingham Ministry
• Third Everingham Ministry
• Fourth Everingham Ministry