Candidates were elected to fill three multi-member electorates using a single transferable vote method, known as the Hare-Clark system.

[9] The incumbent centre-left Labor Party, led by Chief Minister Jon Stanhope, attempted to win re-election for a third term after coming to power in 2001.

A third party, the ACT Greens, held one seat in the Assembly through retiring MLA Deb Foskey.

The Liberal numbers in the Assembly dropped to six in December 2007 when former Shadow Treasurer Richard Mulcahy was expelled from the party and began sitting as an independent.

[10] At the same time, their best prospect for winning Mulcahy's seat of Molonglo, the Liberal candidate for Fraser in the previous Federal election, Troy Williams, withdrew.

[citation needed] Conducted by Patterson Market Research, and published in The Canberra Times, polling released on 4 October suggested the Green vote had doubled to tripled since the last election, at the expense of Labor, with the Liberal vote relatively unchanged.

Joy Burch* Mick Gentleman John Hargreaves* Tracey Macket Wayne Sievers Steve Doszpot* David Morgan Steve Pratt Audrey Ray Brendan Smyth* Amanda Bresnan* Sue Ellerman Ben Doble Burl Doble Brian McLachlan Geoff Rake Bruce Ritchie Val Jeffery James Sizer Five seats were up for election.

Andrew Barr* Eleanor Bates Simon Corbell* Louise Crossman Katy Gallagher* Mike Hettinger David Mathews Belinda Barnier Jacqui Burke Jeremy Hanson* Giulia Jones Gary Kent Zed Seselja* Clinton White Elena Kirschbaum Caroline Le Couteur* Shane Rattenbury* David Cumbers Kim Evans Stuart Green Angus Laburn Darren O'Neil Stephen Rowland Anthony Seddon Alvin Hopper Owen Saddler Nancy-Louise Scherger Norvan Vogt Joanne Allen Richard Mulcahy Ben O'Neill David McAlary David Pinkerton Luciano Lombardo Frank Pangallo Phil Thompson Helen Cross (Ind) Tony Farrell (Ind) Greg Tannahill (-) Kerri Taranto (Ind) At the close of counting on election night 18 October 2008, with 82.1 per cent of the vote counted Labor had obtained 37.6 per cent of the vote across the ACT, with the Liberals at 31.1 per cent and the Greens at 15.8 per cent.

[5] The ACT Electoral Commission determined and announced the election's final results on 25 October 2008 after distribution of preferences.

Labor ministers Katy Gallagher, Andrew Barr and Simon Corbell all won re-election, as did Liberal leader Zed Seselja.

The Greens increased their representation in this seat to two, electing new MLAs Shane Rattenbury and Caroline Le Couteur, the latter at the expense of Liberal-turned-Independent MLA Richard Mulcahy.