A by-election was held for the South Australian House of Assembly seat of Elizabeth on 9 April 1994. This was triggered by the resignation of former state Labor MHA Martyn Evans, who moved to the federal seat of Bonython at the 1994 by-election. The seat, created at the 1969 redistribution and first contested at the 1970 state election, was held by Labor from 1970 until 1984, when Evans won it as an independent Labor candidate. In 1993, he rejoined the Labor Party.
Timeline[edit]
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 18 February 1994 | Martyn Evans resigned to contest the federal seat of Bonython at a by-election due on 19 March. |
| 11 March 1994 | Writs were issued by the Speaker of the House of Assembly to proceed with a by-election.[1] |
| 25 March 1994 | Close of nominations and draw of ballot papers. |
| 9 April 1994 | Polling day, between the hours of 8am and 6pm. |
| 22 April 1994 | The writ was returned and the results formally declared. |
Results[edit]
The Labor opposition retained the seat despite a small two-party preferred swing.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | Lea Stevens | 7,091 | 42.80 | -4.21 | |
| Liberal | Stephen Nicholson | 4,856 | 29.31 | -0.89 | |
| Grey Power | Mary Bell | 1,427 | 8.61 | +8.61 | |
| Independent | Alfred Charles | 993 | 5.99 | -8.13 | |
| HEMP | Dave Sag | 889 | 5.37 | +5.37 | |
| Democrats | Roy Milne | 731 | 4.41 | -4.25 | |
| Independent Labor | Tony Eversham | 502 | 3.03 | +3.03 | |
| Independent[1] | Bernhard Cotton | 77 | 0.46 | +0.46 | |
| Total formal votes | 16,566 | 95.52 | -0.91 | ||
| Informal votes | 777 | 4.48 | +0.91 | ||
| Turnout | 17,343 | 88.11 | -5.41 | ||
| Two-party-preferred result | |||||
| Labor | Lea Stevens | 9,318 | 56.25 | -1.34 | |
| Liberal | Stephen Nicholson | 7,248 | 43.75 | +1.34 | |
| Labor hold | Swing | -1.34 | |||
1 Cotton ran under the banner "Independent - Parent Democracy in State Schools".