Summary of Candidates and Parties Contesting 2022 Victorian Election

A record 740 candidates will contest the 88 Legislative Assembly seats at the Victorian election on 26 November, well up on the previous record of 543 candidates in 2014.

The average of 8.4 candidates per lower house vacancy is the highest ever recorded at an Australian election, beating the previous record of 8.0 at the Federal election in May.

There are also a record 454 candidates contesting the Legislative Council, up from the 380 candidates in 2018. The number of candidates in every region is between 54 and 62. There are 24 groups in Western Metropolitan Region where two Independent groups have joined the 22 groups that have nominated for every region. Counting the Nationals’ joint ticket with the Liberals in three regions, all 22 registered parties have nominated in all regions. The number of columns means that all Legislative Council ballot papers will be printed in a confusing double-deck format.

The table and graph below gives the numbers of candidates contesting lower house elections since the current 88 seat chamber was first used in 1985.

The Labor Party, Greens, Animal Justice and Family First have nominated full slates of 88 candidates. The Liberals have nominated 83 and the Nationals 11, there being six three cornered contests in Mildura, Shepparton, Narracan, Morwell, Bass and Euroa.

All candidates in ballot paper order are now available on the ABC Victorian Election website later this afternoon.

Legislative Assembly – Candidates 1985-2022
Election Total Candidates Average per Seat
1985 207 2.4
1988 286 3.3
1992 362 4.1
1996 310 3.5
1999 321 3.6
2002 372 4.2
2006 459 5.2
2010 502 5.7
2014 543 6.2
2018 507 5.8
2022 740 8.4

Thee number of electorates for a given number of candidates are 6 (10 districts), 7 (19 districts), 8 (24 districts), 9 (19 districts), 10 (7 districts), 11 (4 districts), 12 (1 districts), 14 (2 districts) and 15 (2 districts).

There are 15 candidates in Point Cook and Werribee, 14 in Melton and the Premier's seat of Mulgrave where Dan Andrews drew the top spot on the ballot paper.

Nominations by party over the last four elections are as follows.

Legislative Assembly - Nominations by Party
Party 2022 Change 2018 2014 2010
Labor Party 88 .. 88 88 88
Liberal Party 83 +3 80 80 79
The Nationals 11 +1 10 12 15
Australian Greens 88 .. 88 88 88
Animal Justice Party 88 +45 43 9 ..
Family First Victoria 88 +88 .. 39 69
Freedom Party Victoria 58 +58 .. .. ..
Labour DLP 32 +9 23 5 36
Victorian Socialists 22 +4 18 .. ..
Liberal Democrats 11 +7 4 .. ..
New Democrats 10 +10 .. .. ..
Derryn Hinch Justice Party 10 +4 6 .. ..
Fiona Patten Reason Party 8 -2 10 9 17
Shooters Fishers Farmers 6 -2 8 3 ..
Pauline Hanson's One Nation 5 +5 .. .. ..
Angry Victorians Party 3 +3 .. .. ..
Legalise Cannabis Victoria 3 +3 .. .. ..
Health Australia Party 3 +3 .. .. ..
Transport Matters Party 2 -8 10 .. ..
Companions and Pets Party 1 +1 .. .. ..
Independent/Unendorsed 120 +23 102 91 75
Sustainable Australia .. -11 11 .. ..
Country Alliance .. .. .. 38 29
Rise Up Australia .. .. .. 32 ..
Australian Christians .. .. .. 30 2
Others .. -6 6 21 4
Election Totals 740 +233 507 545 502

There are a record number of candidates and groups contesting the Legislative Council as well.

Legislative Council - Candidates and Groups 2006-2022
Candidates Groups
Election Total Average Total Average
2006 248 6.2 69 8.6
2010 209 5.2 56 7.0
2014 351 8.8 132 16.5
2018 380 9.5 146 18.3
2022 454 11.4 178 22.2
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4 thoughts on “Summary of Candidates and Parties Contesting 2022 Victorian Election”

  2. raymond johnson
    Reply

    have a look at that number that dropped off from different parties, they match perfect to the amount of new INDIs that are in this years election

  3. ChrisC
    Reply

    Is there any correlation between the number of candidates in a seat and the number of informal votes?

    I’d imaging the more candidates there are the easier it is to make an error in the numbering increasing the likelihood of their being excluded

    COMMENT: Yes there is. All research shows the rate increases with the number of candidates, but demographic characteristics of districts, such as proportion born overseas or poor English skills, set a varied base level from which the number of candidates can increase the informal vote further.

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