1985 Victorian state election

← 1982 2 March 1985 (1985-03-02) 1988 →
All 88 seats in the Victorian Legislative Assembly and 22 (of the 44) seats in the Victorian Legislative Council
First party Second party Third party   Leader John Cain Jr. Jeff Kennett Peter Ross-Edwards Party Labor Liberal National Leader's seat Bundoora Burwood Shepparton Last election 49 seats 24 seats 8 seats Seats won 47 seats 31 seats 10 seats Seat change 2 7 2 Percentage 50.01% 41.86% 7.29% Swing 0 3.53 2.32
Results by winning party by electorate for the Legislative Assembly.
Premier before election John Cain Jr. Labor Elected Premier John Cain Jr. Labor

The 1985 Victorian state election, held on Saturday, 2 March 1985, was for the 50th Parliament of Victoria. It was held in the Australian state of Victoria to elect all 88 members of the state's Legislative Assembly and 22 members of the 44-member Legislative Council. Since the previous election, the number of members of the Legislative Assembly was increased by 7 to 88.

Lindsay Thompson, who led the Liberal Party to a defeat at the 1982 election with a 17-seat swing against it, resigned the leadership of the party on 5 November 1982. He was succeeded by Jeff Kennett. At the election, the incumbent Labor Party government led by John Cain Jr. maintained its electoral support, though the Liberal Party did increase the number of seats. It was the first time since Federation that a Labor government had been reelected in Victoria. Although the Labor Party lost seats in the lower house it gained a majority in the upper house picking up 4 seats to hold 23 up from 19 at the last election meaning the Liberal/National Coalition no longer had sway on government policy.

Results

Legislative Assembly

Legislative Council

Seats changing hands

• Members listed in italics did not recontest their seats.
• In addition, the National party retained the seat of Swan Hill, which it had won from the Liberals in a by-election.

Redistribution affected seats

Post-election pendulum