On the final count, a large flow of Labor preferences allowed him to sneak ahead of Dixon by 0.1 percent—a margin of just 53 votes—to win the seat.
McEwen made a formal pledge to support the Liberals on matters of confidence and supply, allowing John Olsen another term as premier.
He was initially highly critical of former Liberal Peter Lewis's support of a Labor minority government under Mike Rann.
But later, McEwen struck a deal of his own with Labor when he accepted a specially created fourteenth cabinet post in November 2002, at various times being the Minister for Local Government, Forests, Industry, Trade, Regional Development, Small Business, Agriculture, and Food and Fisheries, with a promise that he would retain a cabinet position after the 2006 election.
The following paragraph is a quote from the site pollbludgercom: There were fears of a voter backlash in the 2006 election due to McEwen siding with Labor, and he was presented with a strong challenge by Liberal candidate Peter Gandolfi.