2025 Western Australian state election


The 2025 Western Australian state election was held on 8 March 2025 to elect members to the Parliament of Western Australia, where all 59 seats in the Legislative Assembly and all 37 seats in the Legislative Council were up for election.
The [Western Australian Australian Labor Party (Western Australian Branch)|Labor Party|Labor] government, led by Premier Roger Cook, won a third consecutive four-year term in a landslide, becoming the first party to win a third term in Western Australia since 1989. Labor were challenged by the Liberal Party, led by Libby Mettam and by the National Party, led by Opposition Leader Shane Love.
This was Labor's third consecutive landslide victory since winning government in 2017 and Labor's second best result after the previous 2021 state election. Labor won 46 seats in the lower house, a decrease of seven seats from their 2021 result. The Liberal Party won 7 seats while the National Party won 6, ensuring that the Liberals returned to official opposition status in the parliament. Labor's primary vote fell by over 18 points to 41.4%, while the Liberal vote increased by more than six and a half percent to 28% and the National vote was 5.2%.
In the Legislative Council, Labor won 16 seats, the Liberals 10 and Nationals 2; while minor party the Greens won 4 seats. Other minor parties that earned representation in the Council include One Nation, who won 2 seats, as well as Legalise Cannabis, Australian Christians and the Animal Justice Party, who each claimed 1 seat.
Candidates were elected in single-member seats in the Legislative Assembly via full-preferential instant-runoff voting. In the Legislative Council, 37 candidates were elected using single transferable voting across the state, which functioned as a single electorate. Amendments made to electoral law had increased the size of the Legislative Council by one member at this election and also had abolished the former system of six regions of unequal population that each elected six members using single transferable voting.

Background

The 2021 state election saw Labor win one of the most comprehensive victories on record at the state or territory level in Australia. It won 53 of the 59 seats, surpassing its own record set four years earlier for the largest government majority and seat tally in Western Australian parliamentary history.
In May 2023, McGowan resigned the premiership, saying he was "exhausted".
Since the 2021 election, there have been two by-elections. North West Central elected a new member upon the resignation of Vince Catania. Rockingham also elected a new member after former premier Mark McGowan retired from politics. Labor retained this seat with their candidate Magenta Marshall. Merome Beard, the winner of the North West Central by-election defected from the National Party to the Liberal Party in October 2023 and stood as the Liberal Party's candidate in this election.

Registered parties

The following parties were registered with the Western Australian Electoral Commission:

Electoral system

Members in the Legislative Assembly were elected to single-member seats via full-preferential instant-runoff voting. In the Legislative Council election, 37 members were elected across the state, which functions as a single electorate. They were elected using single transferable voting.

Legislative Council voting changes

In September 2021, the McGowan Labor Government introduced electoral reform legislation to change the electoral system of the Legislative Council. Under the system used in the 2021 election, put in place under the Gallop government, the state was divided into six regional electorates, each electing six members. Three of the regions were based in metropolitan Perth, and three in the regions; the regions were intentionally unequal in population; this system overrepresented the rural electoral regions; the Mining and Pastoral Region had one-sixth the population of the metropolitan regions, but elected the same six MLCs. The government first proposed abolishing the regions and replacing them with what it called a "one vote, one value" system.
Under the new system, 37 MLCs were elected on a single statewide ballot by single transferable vote. This increased the size of the council by one seat. The controversial group voting tickets were abolished. GVTs were abolished for the Senate in 2016 and, at the time of this election, were only used for the Victorian Legislative Council. Votes were cast under a semi-optional preferential form of STV using above-the-line voting. It required electors to mark preferences for one or more preferred parties above the dividing line on the ballot paper, or at least 20 candidates below the dividing line. The legislation was passed by the state parliament on 17 November 2021 and received royal assent seven days thereafter.
The election of 37 MLCs in a single statewide constituency represents the largest district magnitude known in the history of the single transferable vote.

Redistribution

The Western Australian Electoral Commission conducted a redistribution of the boundaries of all 59 electoral districts. The final boundaries for the electoral districts were released on 1 December 2023.
The seats of Moore and North West Central were merged to create a new seat, Mid-West. The merger of two rural seats into one was matched by the creation of a new seat in Perth, Oakford, which covers growing suburbs between Armadale and the Kwinana Freeway.
According to psephologist Antony Green, the Coalition will need a combined swing of 23.4% to gain the 24 seats needed to form a majority government.
On the new boundaries, there are 17 seats with margins under 15%, which will be regarded as "key seats".

Changes to electorates of the Legislative Assembly



Key dates

Elections are scheduled for the second Saturday of March every four years, in line with legislative changes made in 2011.
While the Legislative Assembly has fixed four-year terms, the Governor of Western Australia may still dissolve the Assembly and call an election early on the advice of the Premier.
Key dates of this election were:

Retiring MPs

Labor

Liberal

National

Independent

Results

The election was called for the incumbent Labor government just after 7:40pm Australian Western Standard Time.

Seats changing hands

Members in italics did not recontest their seats.

Electoral pendulums

Pre-election pendulum

This is a pre-election pendulum, taking into account the 2023 boundary redistribution. Estimated margins are calculated by Antony Green for the Western Australian Parliamentary Library. Retiring members are shown in italics.

Opinion polling

Satisfaction ratings