Will horror final week derail Daley’s plans to become Premier?

NSW is about to vote on one of the tightest state contests in history — will Gladys Berejiklian’s Coalition return for a historic third term or will Michael Daley overcome a horror week to win for Labor?

Not since 1971 has a Liberal-National Coalition been offered the privilege of a third term of government by the people of NSW.

And whatever happens after the polls close, voters have thought very carefully about whether or not they will bestow it on Gladys Berejiklian.

The Premier decisively won the final week of this showdown as Michael Daley’s campaign veered dramatically off the rails.

But up until then, this has been a neck-and-neck race.

Gladys Berejiklian got Caesar the cat’s vote … will human voters agree?

There can be no denying voters across the state have flirted with the idea that Berejiklian should go.

For weeks the polls were deadlocked at 50-50 and last night the government was worrying about a string of Sydney seats as well as those in the bush.

There was a sense in the camp that they had done much to steady the ship in the past seven days, but there was still a nervous atmosphere among the Coalition that anything could happen.

Daley showed in the final few days that he is not ready to govern.

His slippery lack of detail on his budget showed up a man who wasn’t match-fit for an election.

Michael Daley and Gladys Berejiklian shake hands after the televised People’s Forum. Picture: Jonathan Ng

His willingness to mention one thing about migration in the regions and another to the Chinese in Sydney showed up a man who was willing to say what people wanted to hear.

And his confusion over his own tax hike only highlighted his confusion on policy.

But no one can say just how much voters were swayed by these things.

They have been hurting under the strain of increased cost-of-living pressures while NSW prospered and were looking for answers.

Berejiklian has worked hard to remind voters she has turned the economy around and it cannot risk returning to the Obeid era of old Labor.

Daley picked up the baton in November and has fought fiercely for his political life every day since.

Now the voters of NSW have the power in one of the tightest state contests in history.