Fair Elections Coalition

The FEC was formed on 11 August 1988 as a lobby group in opposition to the modified D'Hondt electoral system that was introduced for the first ACT election under self-government.^[5][6] Under this system, any party that did not win at least 5.56% of the vote was unable to win a seat or receive preferences from other parties.^[7][8] The FEC also opposed single-member electoral districts, which were proposed (although failed to pass) at a 1992 referendum.^[9][10]

Although its members, including president Miko Kirschbaum, did not initially want to be a political party, the FEC applied for registration with the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) on 5 January 1989 and was registered 11 days later.^[3][6][11]

In February 1989, Tony Fleming (who had planned to contest the election as part of his own "Tony Fleming Independent Group" party), former Australian Democrats candidate Julie McCarron-Benson and three members of the Rainbow Alliance joined the FEC to contest the election, in order to best maximise their chances under the D'Hondt system.^[12][13] This meant the Rainbow Alliance withdrew from the election as a separate party.^[14][15]

The FEC received second preferences from a majority of the minor parties that were contesting the election.^[16] Opinion polling published throughout the election campaign showed the party with between 1.1% and 2.8% of the vote, which was not enough to win a seat.^[17][18] Fleming's campaign was endorsed by Tasmanian Independent Greens MP Bob Brown, who said Fleming was "part of the fresh wave of Australian politics" and "a brilliant candidate".^[19][20]

The election was held on 4 March, but counting took almost two months to complete.^[21][22] Around three weeks after the election, Fleming conceded that he had narrowly missed out on being elected, with the FEC winning 99.92% of the quota needed and thus falling just 117 votes (or 0.08%) short of gaining a seat.^[23][24] This was despite Fleming having the third-highest personal vote of any candidate in the ACT.^[25][26]

On 26 July 1991, the FEC was deregistered by the AEC.^[27]