Election 2022: Anti-vax candidate Nina Digiglio unlikely kingmaker in tight Gilmore race

Covid-sceptic candidate Nina Digiglio has become an unlikely kingmaker in the increasingly tight race in Gilmore after the former nurse received a four per cent swing in Saturday’s ballot.

Fringe Gilmore independent Nina Digiglio didn’t fancy her chances of electoral success in this year’s ballot, but after a more than four per cent swing, she’s become an unlikely kingmaker in the marginal seat.

With 85.3 per cent of the vote counted, only 145 votes separate Liberal candidate and front runner Andrew Constance from incumbent Labor candidate Fiona Phillips.

Mr Constance has been buoyed by a 13.3 per cent swing towards the Liberal party in Gilmore in Saturday’s ballot, bucking national trends. But, he’s not the only one to benefit from an unlikely shift in votes.

Climate and Covid-sceptic candidates also performed better than expected, with Ms Digiglio and One Nation’s Jerremy Eid – a ghost candidate who didn’t appear at any candidate forum – both accruing around 4 per cent of the vote. United Australia Party candidate Jordan Maloney also received 2.7 per cent.

Ms Digiglio notably did not issue a preference guide in the lead up to the election, and told The South Coast News she “didn’t care” about preferences, as long as Labor, Liberals, and The Greens were last.

“I’m not a party, I didn’t do any preference deals,” she said.

“So it’s going to be a mishmash from my mob where the preferences went to.”

For both major camps, that is a problem. Sources from the Liberal party have said Ms Digiglio’s preferences were “going all over the place”, echoing frustrations held by Labor supporters on election night.

Ms Digiglio also admits to having suffered from her own preference frustrations, having expected to benefit from preferences from independent “Freedom Movement” groups, including One Nation and UAP.

“When they did the count, all the preferences from the United Australia Party and One Nation, probably should have gone to me. But they didn’t do it like that,” she said.

“They counted Liberal and Labor and the preferences went straight to them.”

Ms Digiglio said she placed The Greens fifth in her preferences, behind the “Freedom Movement” parties, followed by Andrew Constance and Fiona Phillips.

Pressed on who she’d prefer to lead the region, Ms Digiglio backed Mr Constance.

“I would prefer Andrew because I feel he is a little bit more level headed,” she said.

“During the campaign, we did build a rapport and I feel like he would listen. Judging from the people in my movement, we feel like what we’ve got to say could influence him a lot more than we could influence say, Labor or The Greens.

“They tend to be quite staunch in their approach, and don’t really listen to opposing views so well.”

With a final results still some way off, Ms Digiglio said she had already “moved on”.

The cost of her failed electoral venture was $10,000, some of which Ms Digiglio admits came from her mortgage. But she remains undeterred ahead of the 2023 state elections.

“We’ll put up another candidate there and we’ll discuss that in our group meetings,” she said.

“For me, spending $10,000 on that election, while others spent like $10 million, and to get that result … I’m pretty happy with that.

“It was the boots on the ground and the passion of my people that got us that kind of result.”