2009 Pembroke state by-election


A by-election was held in the Tasmanian Legislative Council division of Pembroke on 1 August 2009. It was triggered by the resignation of sitting member Allison Ritchie.

Background

Ritchie was first elected to the Legislative Council in 2001 at the age of 26, the youngest person ever elected to that chamber. She spent nine and a half weeks as Minister for Planning and Workplace Relations in 2008, but resigned due to ill health. She announced her resignation from parliament amid allegations of nepotism on 20 June 2009.

Candidates

The writ for the by-election was issued on 30 June 2009; nominations closed on 9 July. The eight candidates were:

Distribution of Preferences

The distribution of preferences is shown in detail on the Tasmanian Electoral Commission website. In accordance with the preferential voting system, the following candidates were excluded in the order shown and their votes distributed to remaining candidates or declared exhausted : Soo, Cooper, Crotty, Peers, Bacon.
Vanessa Goodwin attained a quota when two other candidates were left in the count, meaning that no two-candidate-preferred figure was attained.