Source : the age
The Victorian seat of Calwell is now the only seat in Australia that’s too close to call after Bradfield was tenuously secured by an independent on Monday.
Held by now-retired Labor veteran Maria Vamvakinou for more than two decades, Calwell – a working-class north suburban seat – should have been safe.
But it will take around two more weeks to finalise the count as preference flows are determined. It has a large field of candidates, with many picking up sizeable shares of the primary vote. AEC boss Jeff Pope said the total election will be “our most complex count in history”.
Labor candidate Basem Abdo (his predecessor’s adviser) is battling Liberal candidate and cybersecurity expert Usman Ghani and a handful of independent candidates, with Ghani garnering nearly 16 per cent of the first-preference vote and the leading independent, disaffected former local Labor mayor Carly Moore, collecting 12 per cent.
On Monday, late counting in the Sydney seat of Bradfield put independent Nicollete Boele in front by 40 votes over Liberal Gisele Kapterian. Boele had started the day 43 votes behind.
With no votes left to count, Boele is on track to be elected to the previously safe Liberal seat. However, a full recount will be conducted given the result is less than 100 votes.
Every seat that Labor gained
Other seats that changed hands
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