Photo: DFAT/ Rhiannon Johannes
ACT Labor has extended its reign beyond 25 years despite a big swing against it in the territory’s elections on the weekend.
Labor leader Andrew Barr won his third election as chief minister despite a swing of 3.3 percent against the party.
ACT Labor won 82,404, or 34.5 per cent of first preference votes according to Elections ACT, with 98.2 per cent of all votes counted as of Monday.
The Liberal party suffered a small swing against it of -0.9 percent, or 78,602 votes (32.9 percent).
The ACT Greens came in third with 29,776 votes, or 12.5 per cent, despite a 1.0 percent swing against them.
Independent candidates recorded the big positive swing, 8.5 per, cent to take their votes tally to 20,338 or 8.5 per cent.
SBS News reported that Barr was confident he could once again form a progressive government with the support of a five-member crossbench.
With more than three quarters of votes tallied, ABC election guru Antony Green predicted Labor would cling onto their 10 seats while the Greens would hold three; 13 seats are needed to form government in the 25-member Legislative Assembly.
The Liberals were on track to pick up one seat under leader Elizabeth Lee, matching Labor on 10, but still saw their share of the vote decline by 0.9 per cent.
Lee gave no indication of whether she would step down after conceding defeat, SBS News reported.
The Greens suffered a smaller swing against them of 1.0 per cent but shed half their seats due to the ACT’s Hare-Clark system.
Much of the vote share lost by Labor and the Greens was soaked up by independents rather than the opposition.
SBS reported that Murrumbidgee candidate Fiona Carrick and Thomas Emerson in the central Canberra seat of Kurrajong are set to become the first independents elected to the assembly since 1998.
After 12 years in coalition with Labor, the Greens were hurt by their incumbency, with some voters doubting their ability to push for progressive policies from within the government.
Greens leader Shane Rattenbury said his party had heard the electorate loud and clear and needed to make some bold decisions.
