1977 Northern Territory general election

← 1974 13 August 1977 (1977-08-13) 1980 →
All 19 seats of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly 10 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	75.9 ( 0.5 pp)
First party Second party   ALP Leader Goff Letts No leader Party Country Liberal Labor Leader since 19 October 1974 – Leader's seat Victoria River (lost seat) – Last election 17 seats 0 seats Seats won 12 6 Seat change 5 6 Popular vote 12,769 12,165 Percentage 40.1% 38.2% Swing 8.9 7.7
Majority Leader before election Goff Letts Country Liberal Elected Majority Leader Paul Everingham Country Liberal

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. Surprisingly, one of the casualties was Majority Leader Goff Letts—one of the few instances where a major-party leader at any level in Australia lost his own seat. The election also marked the emergence of the 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 succeed 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, while 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.

Retiring MPs

CLP

• Eric Manuell MLA (Alice Springs)
• Hyacinth Tungutalum MLA (Tiwi)

Results

Summary of the results of the 1977 Northern Territory general election, Legislative Assembly^[1]

Party		Votes	%	+/–	Seats	+/–
	Country Liberal	12,769	40.13	8.88	12	5
	Labor	12,165	38.23	7.77	6	6
	Independents	3,718	11.69	8.85	1	1
	Progress	3,104	9.76	New	0
	Communist	61	0.19	0.19	0
Total		31,817	100.00	–	19	–
Valid votes		31,817	96.82
Invalid/blank votes		1,044	3.18	1.89
Total votes		32,861	100.00	–
Registered voters/turnout		43,284	75.92	0.52

Candidates

Sitting members are listed in bold. Successful candidates are highlighted in the relevant colour. Where there is possible confusion, an asterisk is used.

Seats changing hands