Fair Elections Coalition Explained

Leader:Tony Fleming[1]
President:Miko Kirschbaum[2]
Spokesperson:Moira Rowland
Headquarters:15 Grey Street
Deakin, Canberra[3]
Country:Australia
Abbreviation:FEC

The Fair Elections Coalition (FEC) was an Australian political party that contested the first election for the Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly in 1989.[4]

History

The FEC was formed on 11 August 1988 as a lobby group in opposition to the modified D'Hondt electoral system that was introduced for the first ACT election under self-government.[5] [6] Under this system, any party that did not win at least 5.56% of the vote was unable to win a seat or receive preferences from other parties.[7] [8] The FEC also opposed single-member electoral districts, which were proposed (although failed to pass) at a 1992 referendum.[9] [10]

Although its members, including president Miko Kirschbaum, did not initially want to be a political party, the FEC applied for registration with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) on 5 January 1989 and was registered 11 days later.[3] [6] [11]

In February 1989, Tony Fleming (who had planned to contest the election as part of his own "Tony Fleming Independent Group" party), former Australian Democrats candidate Julie McCarron-Benson and three members of the Rainbow Alliance joined the FEC to contest the election, in order to best maximise their chances under the D'Hondt system.[12] [13] This meant the Rainbow Alliance withdrew from the election as a separate party.[14] [15]

The FEC received second preferences from a majority of the minor parties that were contesting the election.[16] Opinion polling published throughout the election campaign showed the party with between 1.1% and 2.8% of the vote, which was not enough to win a seat.[17] [18] Fleming's campaign was endorsed by Tasmanian Independent Greens MP Bob Brown, who said Fleming was "part of the fresh wave of Australian politics" and "a brilliant candidate".[19] [20]

The election was held on 4 March, but counting took almost two months to complete.[21] [22] Around three weeks after the election, Fleming conceded that he had narrowly missed out on being elected, with the FEC winning 99% of the quota needed and thus falling just 117 votes (or 0.08%) short of gaining a seat.[23] [24] This was despite Fleming having the third-highest personal vote of any candidate in the ACT.[25] [26]

On 26 July 1991, the FEC was deregistered by the AEC.[27]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: A.C.T. ELECTION '89: THE CANDIDATES... . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 4 . 24 February 1989.
  2. Web site: Mason . Leanne . Federal poll may dash chance of referendum . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 1 . 17 February 1990.
  3. Web site: Register of Political Parties . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 5 . 6 January 1989.
  4. Web site: Salins . Christine . Independent plan aims at 'fair poll' . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 5 . 3 November 1988.
  5. Web site: Electoral changes 'grossly unfair' . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 2 . 12 August 1988.
  6. Web site: Cumming . Fia . 'Coalition of convenience' is created . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 5 . 10 February 1989.
  7. Web site: Modified d'Hondt Electoral System . Elections ACT . 17 November 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20241017014001/https://www.elections.act.gov.au/elections/previous-assembly-elections/1989-election/modified-dhondt-electoral-system . 17 October 2024.
  8. Web site: Mackerras . Malcolm . ACT to have the fairest voting system of all . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 9 . 11 November 1988.
  9. Web site: Warden . Ian . Single-member polls 'unfair' . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 3 . 17 April 1989.
  10. Web site: Lamberton . Hugh . Turnaround: Hare-Clark set to triumph . The Canberra Times . 24 October 2024 . 1 . 14 February 1992.
  11. Web site: NOTICE OF REGISTRATION OF POLITICAL PARTIES . Commonwealth of Australia Gazette . 17 November 2024 . 1 . 17 January 1989.
  12. Web site: REGISTER OF POLITICAL PARTIES . Commonwealth of Australia Gazette . 17 November 2024 . 3 . 16 January 1989.
  13. Web site: Greens join Demoncrats for ACT poll . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 2 . 14 July 1991.
  14. Web site: REGISTER OF POLITICAL PARTIES . Commonwealth of Australia Gazette . 17 November 2024 . 2 . 6 January 1989.
  15. Web site: FAIR ELECTIONS COALITION (rainbow alliance) . Woroni . 17 November 2024 . 29 . 20 February 1989.
  16. Web site: Cumming . Fia . Preferences to Fair Elections . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 7 . 16 February 1989.
  17. Web site: Whitfield . Kathryn . Poll: major parties unwanted . The Canberra Times . 24 October 2024 . 1 . 19 February 1989.
  18. Web site: Fraser . Andrew . Minority still top tip . The Canberra Times . 24 October 2024 . 1 . 3 March 1989.
  19. Web site: THIS ELECTION IS ABOUT INTEGRITY . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 27 . 25 February 1989.
  20. Web site: Put 1 Fleming Tony Fair Elections Coalition Column 8 . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 24 . 26 February 1989.
  21. Web site: Cumming . Fia . Fleming loses ground . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 1 . 14 March 1989.
  22. Web site: Cumming . Fia . Elected! The ACT gets its first Assembly, at last . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 1 . 4 May 1989.
  23. Web site: Cumming . Fia . I think we're dead, Fleming confesses . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 1 . 24 March 1989.
  24. Web site: Proportional Representation Society of Australia . Time to Bring Effective Voting to Queens an Local Government Elections . Parliament of Queensland . 17 November 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20241117104959/https://documents.parliament.qld.gov.au/com/LJSCLCARC-FA4F/ALGEARBCC-823A/submissions/00000134.pdf . 17 November 2024 . 8 . 13 August 2010.
  25. Web site: Uhlmann . Chris . The quagmire of modified d'Hondt . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 16 . 15 February 1992.
  26. Web site: Assembly balance 'in the post' . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 1 . 17 February 1992.
  27. Web site: Sibley . David . How Michael crashed Craig and Carmel's party . The Canberra Times . 17 November 2024 . 1 . 27 July 1991.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Fair Elections Coalition".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2025, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.