2026 South Australian state election

2026 South Australian state election

21 March 2026 (2026-03-21)
All 47 seats in the House of Assembly 24 seats needed for a majority 11 of 22 seats in the Legislative Council
Opinion polls
Registered	1,309,809[1] (as of 18 December 2025)
IND Leader Peter Malinauskas Ashton Hurn N/A Party Labor Liberal Independents Leader since 9 April 2018 8 December 2025 N/A Leader's seat Croydon Schubert N/A Last election 27 seats 16 seats 4 seats Current seats 29[a] 13[a] 5 Seats needed 11 N/A[b] 2PP @ 2022 54.6% 45.4%
Map of House of Assembly electorates.
Incumbent Premier Peter Malinauskas Labor

The 2026 South Australian state election will be held on 21 March 2026 to elect the 56th Parliament of South Australia. All 47 seats in the House of Assembly will be up for election, along with 11 of the 22 seats in the Legislative Council.

The incumbent Labor government, led by Premier Peter Malinauskas, will seek a second four-year term in government. They will be challenged by the Liberal Party, led by Opposition Leader Ashton Hurn. It is expected that the South Australian Greens and other minor parties and independents will contest the election.

South Australia has compulsory voting, with full-preference instant-runoff voting for single-member electorates in the lower house, and optional preference single transferable voting in the proportionally represented upper house. The election will be conducted by the Electoral Commission of South Australia (ECSA), an independent body answerable to Parliament, and will be held on the same day as the South Australian First Nations Voice election.^[3][4]

At the 2022 election, the South Australian Labor Party won government after spending four years in opposition. The party, led by Peter Malinauskas, gained 8 seats to have a four-seat majority in the House of Assembly, while the incumbent South Australian Liberal Party government, led by Premier Steven Marshall, lost a total of nine seats to Labor and independents. Statewide the Labor Party won 54.59% of the two-party preferred vote, which was a swing of over 6.5%.^[5][6][7][8]

In the Legislative Council, Labor won five seats, the Liberals won four and the Greens and One Nation both won one seat each. As a result, the Labor government held a total of nine seats and the Liberal held eight, with five on the crossbench, including two Greens, two SA-Best representatives and a single One Nation seat held by Sarah Game.^[5][6][7] Following the election, the Presidency of the council was unexpectedly retained by Liberal MLC Terry Stephens, meaning the Labor government required an additional two non-government votes for passage of legislation.^[5][6][7]

Four independents were successfully elected in regional and rural seats in 2022; Dan Cregan (Kavel), Troy Bell (Mount Gambier), Fraser Ellis (Narungga) and Geoff Brock (Stuart). The lower house crossbench increased to five when Mackillop MP Nick McBride resigned from the Liberal Party on 5 July 2023. ^[9][10] The crossbench was reduced back to four when Mount Gambier MP Troy Bell resigned on 2 September 2025.^[11] As Bell's resignation occurred sufficiently close enough to the state election, a by-election was not held.

Three by-elections were held during the parliament's four-year term.

A by-election in Bragg was held in July 2022 due to the resignation of Vickie Chapman and the seat was retained by the Liberals.

In March 2024 the Labor Party gained the seat of Dunstan, which had belonged to former Liberal Premier Steven Marshall. Labor's majority therefore increased by one, though when Leon Bignell was elected to the position of Speaker of the Assembly the following month, the party composition returned to its post-election state, as the Speaker is required to renounce party ties for the duration of their speakership.^[12]

Labor further increased their total seats when they won the November 2024 by-election in the seat of Black with a double-digit swing, when Steven Marshall's successor as Liberal Leader David Speirs resigned his seat.^[13]

The by-election results and the resignation of Nick McBride reduced the Liberals to 13 members in the lower house, their worst parliamentary position in nearly a century.^[14]

Labor brought their total to 29 seats when the Speaker Leon Bignell, who had to seat as an independent, rejoined the party on 5 September 2025.^[15] Labor's 29 seats surpassed the landside number they achieved at the 2006 state election.

As of January 2026, there have been five alterations to the post-election party composition in the Legislative Council. SA-Best MLC Frank Pangallo left the party and moved to the crossbench to sit as an independent in December 2023.^[16]

Liberal MLC Jing Lee became an independent and moved to the crossbench in January 2025,^[17] and Greens MLC Tammy Franks quit the party and sat as an independent in May 2025.^[18]

Also in May 2025, Sarah Game resigned from the One Nation party, and in August 2025 Pangallo joined the Liberal Party.^[19] Game founded "Sarah Game Fair Go for Australians", registered with the Electoral Commission of South Australia on 24 July 2025,^[20] usually abbreviated to "Fair Go".^[21]

The following political parties are registered by the Electoral Commission of South Australia:^[22]

The pendulum includes mid-term affiliation changes and by-election outcomes, in particular the Dunstan by-election and Black by-election which saw Labor take both seats away from the Liberals.

Italics indicates that the member is retiring or has resigned *.

A redistribution, required after each election, was finalised by the South Australian Electoral Districts Boundaries Commission in December 2024. The below post-redistribution pendulum shows all seats by their redistributed Labor or Liberal notional two-party-preferred margin, and does not take in to account by-election swings since the last election.^[24][25]

Italics indicates that the member is retiring or the seat is vacant.

The last state election was held on 19 March 2022 to elect members for the House of Assembly and half of the members in the Legislative Council. In South Australia, section 28 of the Constitution Act 1934, as amended in 2001, directs that parliaments have fixed four-year terms, and elections must be held on the third Saturday in March every four years unless this date falls the day after Good Friday, occurs within the same month as a federal election, or the conduct of the election could be adversely affected by a state disaster. Section 28 also states that the Governor may also dissolve the Assembly and call an election for an earlier date if the government has lost the confidence of the Assembly or a bill of special importance has been rejected by the Legislative Council. Section 41 states that both the Council and the Assembly may also be dissolved simultaneously if a deadlock occurs between them.^[26]

The Electoral (Miscellaneous) Amendment Act 2013^[27] introduced set dates for writs for general elections in South Australia. The writ sets the dates for the close of the electoral roll and the close of nominations for an election. The Electoral Act 1985 requires that, for a general election, the writ be issued 28 days before the date fixed for polling (S47(2a)) and the electoral roll be closed at 12 noon, six days after the issue of the writ (S48(3(a)(i))). The close of nominations will be at 12 noon three days after the close of rolls (Electoral Act 1985 S48(4)(a) and S4(1)).^[28][29][30]

New state laws, the Electoral (Accountability and Integrity) Amendment Act 2024, which came into operation on 1 July 2025, have banned political donations, instead funding parties and candidates with taxpayer funds. The effect of the changes mean that minor parties and independents will be at a disadvantage, while incumbent parties will be well funded to run their campaigns with public money, although the legislation includes provisions such as advance payments to new entrants, who will be entitled to receive donations of up to $5,000 and will also be subject to a spending cap. According to The Australia Institute, around 75 per cent of public funding will go to the major parties, and only 1–2 per cent to new entrants. South Australia's changes have gone further than any other state, and possibly any other country, with this legislation.^[31][32]

Right-wing lobby group Turning Point Australia (TPAUS), an offshoot of the organisation formed by American right-wing activist Charlie Kirk,^[33] intends to lobby for minor right-wing parties at the election, and to this end established a chapter in South Australia in September 2025. TPAUS aims to establish chapters across Australia, including in high schools and universities, with its leader, Joel Jammal, wanting politicians to see the organisation as "the biggest threat in keeping voters informed".^[34] The group expects to spend over A$10,000 on their campaign, which will see them hosting events on university campuses, among other events.^[33]