The election saw a substantial swing in most seats away from Labor, towards the Liberal and Greens parties, resulting in a hung parliament. While Labor remained the largest party, it was two seats short of a majority. Under pressure to resign as Parliamentary Labor leader, Carpenter began negotiations with the National Party with a view to forming a minority government. However, the Nationals ultimately decided to support the Liberals in forming a minority government. As a result, Alan Carpenter was succeeded by Colin Barnett as Western Australian Premier, and stepped down as Labor leader in favour of his deputy, Eric Ripper.
