He lost the 2002 election by a large margin; the result was in fact the worst showing for the main non-Labor party in Victoria since it adopted the Liberal banner in 1945. The party lost control of the Legislative Council for only the second time in Victorian parliamentary history, while their lower house seat count was more than halved, to 17 seats–their smallest presence in the legislature in half a century. The Liberals were further crippled when the Shadow Treasurer, Robert Dean, was deemed ineligible to stand because he had failed to update his voter registration after moving to a new electorate; under Victorian law, he was no longer on the electoral roll.