Editing Country Liberal Party (section)

===2001–2012: In opposition===
At the [[2001 Northern Territory general election|2001 election]], the Australian Labor Party won government by one seat, ending 27 years of CLP government.<ref name="parliament.curriculum.edu.au"/> The loss marked a major turning point in Northern Territory politics, a result which was exacerbated when, at the [[2005 Northern Territory general election|2005 election]], the ALP won the second-largest majority government in the history of the Territory, reducing the once-dominant party to just four members in the Legislative Assembly. This result was only outdone by the 1974 election, in which the CLP faced only two independents as opposition.  The CLP even lost two seats in [[Palmerston, Northern Territory|Palmerston]], an area where the ALP had never come close to winning any seats before.

In the [[2001 Australian federal election|2001 federal election]], the CLP won the newly formed seat of [[Division of Solomon|Solomon]], based on Darwin/Palmerston, in the House of Representatives.<ref name="Carlisle2005">{{cite book|editor=Rodney P. Carlisle|title=Encyclopedia of Politics: The Left and the Right|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpo0000carl|url-access=registration|year=2005|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4522-6531-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpo0000carl/page/535 535]}}</ref>
In the [[2004 Australian federal election|2004 federal election]], the CLP held one seat in the House of Representatives, and one seat in the Senate.<ref name="Lansford2014">{{cite book|editor=Tom Lansford|title=Political Handbook of the World 2014|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iC_VBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA80|year=2014|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4833-8626-3|page=80}}</ref> The CLP lost its federal lower house seat in the [[2007 Australian federal election|2007 federal election]],<ref name="Lansford2014"/> but regained it when Palmerston deputy mayor [[Natasha Griggs]] won back Solomon for the CLP. She sat with the Liberals in the House.

The [[2008 Northern Territory general election|2008 election]] saw the CLP recover from the severe loss it suffered three years earlier, increasing its representation from four to 11 members. Following the 2011 decision of ALP-turned-independent member [[Alison Anderson]] to join the CLP, this increased CLP's representation to 12 in the Assembly, leaving the incumbent Henderson Government to govern in minority with the support of Independent MP [[Gerry Wood]].

Historically, the CLP has been particularly dominant in the Territory's two major cities, [[Darwin, Northern Territory|Darwin]]/Palmerston and [[Alice Springs]]. However, in recent years the ALP has pulled even with the CLP in the Darwin area; indeed, its 2001 victory was fueled by an unexpected swing in Darwin.