2023 Arafura by-election

2023 Arafura by-election
Registered	5,536
Turnout	58.1%
	Location of Arafura in the Northern Territory
MP before election; Lawrence Costa; Labor	Elected MP ; Manuel Brown; Labor

Registered5,536

Turnout58.1%

The 2023 Arafura by-election was held on Saturday, 18 March 2023 to elect the next member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly for the electoral division of Arafura. The by-election was triggered by the death of incumbent Labor MP Lawrence Costa, who died on 17 December 2022 and had a state funeral held for him on 1 March.^[2] The election was won by Labor candidate Manuel Brown. Chief Minister and NT Labor leader Natasha Fyles declared victory after two hours of counting.^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Lawrence Costa	1,269	49.0	+0.6
	Country Liberal	Gibson Illortaminni	1,041	40.2	+4.4
	Independent	Tristan Mungatopi	199	7.7	+3.5
	Territory Alliance	George Laughton	82	3.2	+3.2
Total formal votes			2,591	94.8	N/A
Informal votes			142	5.2	N/A
Turnout			2,733	52.7	N/A
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Lawrence Costa	1,388	53.6	−3.7
	Country Liberal	Gibson Illortaminni	1,203	46.4	+3.7
	Labor hold		Swing	−3.7

	Candidate	Background
Country Liberal	Leslie Tungutalum	Deputy Mayor of the Tiwi Islands Regional Council. Son of former member for Tiwi Hyacinth Tungutalum.^[2]
Labor	Manuel Brown	Former liaison officer for Costa.^[2]
Federation	Alan Middleton	Party officer.^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labor	Manuel Brown	2,038	66.7	+17.7
	Country Liberal	Leslie Tungatalum	897	29.4	−10.7
	Federation	Alan Middleton	120	3.9	+3.9
Total formal votes			3,055	95.1	+0.3
Informal votes			159	4.9	−0.3
Turnout			3,214	58.1	+5.4
Two-party-preferred result
	Labor	Manuel Brown	2,113	69.2	+15.6
	Country Liberal	Leslie Tungatalum	942	30.8	−15.6
	Labor hold		Swing	+15.6

2020 election results