Source : Perth Now news
STATE OF PLAY:
* Labor holds 54 out of 88 lower house seats after Will Fowles and Darren Cheeseman were booted to the crossbench this term
* The coalition has 29 seats (20 Liberals and nine Nationals)
* Remaining five seats are split between Greens (three) and two independents (Mr Fowles and Mr Cheeseman)
* The coalition would have to produce a net gain of 16 seats to win majority government
* Labor has been in power in Victoria since 2014 and for all but four years this century
* Of the 40 seats in the Legislative Council, also known as the upper house, Labor has 15, the coalition 14 and minor parties 11
* There are five seats in each of the eight regions, with five spanning metropolitan Melbourne and three for regional Victoria
VOTING TIMELINE:
* November 3: parliament finishes and will enter caretaker mode, the Victorian governor issues writs for the election
* The electoral roll closes at 8pm AEDT, with the VEC expecting almost 4.7 million Victorians to be enrolled for this election
* November 4: candidate nominations open, postal vote applications open
* November 9: candidate nominations close, ballots drawn
* November 10: postal voting opens
* November 18: early voting opens, last day for postal voting
* November 28: election day
* December 4: last day votes can be admitted to count
* December 19: writs returned or before
HOW VOTING WORKS:
Lower house:
* Every box on the lower house ballot paper must be numbered from first to last in order of preference
* A candidate wins if they receive more than 50 per cent of first votes, or once preferences are distributed
Upper house:
* Voters need to number at least five boxes in order of preference, either above or below the line
* Parties or candidates must reach a 16.7 per cent quota – a sixth of total votes – to elect one member
* With the abolition of group voting tickets, parties or candidates can no longer rely on harvested, automated preference flows to cross that threshold
WHO IS NOT RECONTESTING:
Labor:
* Jackson Taylor (Bayswater), Steve McGhie (Melton), Emma Vulin (Pakenham), Jordan Crugnale (Bass), Natalie Hutchins (Sydenham), Shaun Leane (North-Eastern Metropolitan), Mary-Anne Thomas (Macedon), Danny Pearson (Essendon), Gayle Tierney (Western Victoria), Jacinta Allan (Bendigo East), Harriet Shing (Eastern Victoria), Lily D’Ambrosio (Mill Park), Maree Edwards (Bendigo West), Gary Maas (Narre Warren South)
Liberals:
* Bill Tilley (Benambra), David Hodgett (Croydon), Michael O’Brien (Malvern), Kim Wells (Rowville), Wendy Lovell (Northern Victoria), Joe McCracken (Western Victoria)
Nationals:
* Peter Walsh (Murray Plains), Tim Bull (Gippsland East), Kim O’Keeffe (Shepparton)
Greens:
* Tim Read (Brunswick)
Independent:
* Will Fowles (Ringwood), Darren Cheeseman (South Barwon)
