When voters will head to the polls for Prahran by-election

Voters will go to the polls early in 2025 to elect a replacement for former Greens MP Sam Hibbins, who resigned last month after being forced to quit the party when his affair with a staffer was exposed.

Sam Hibbins resigned last month after being forced to quit the party after his affair with a staffer was exposed.. Picture Norm Oorloff

Voters will head back to the poll early next year, with a date now set for the Prahran by-election.

Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, Maree Edwards, on Wednesday announced February 8 for the poll to elect a replacement for former Greens MP Sam Hibbins.

Hibbins resigned last month after being forced to quit the party after his affair with a staffer was exposed.

Mystery surrounds the circumstances of the affair.

Party leader Ellen Sandell saying it prompted a complaint to Parliamentary Services “detailing serious and concerning allegations”.

It involved “behaving inappropriately towards a staff member over a period of time” and was the subject of a complaint, she said.

Mr Hibbins has emphatically insisted the affair was consensual.

Greens Leader Ellen Sandell. Picture: Nicki Connolly

It was subsequently alleged that university interns were barred from working in Hibbins’ office as early as 2016 following complaints about inappropriate behaviour.

Pollsters say a nationwide swing against the Greens in various council and state elections could jeopardise the party’s hold over the seat it has held since 2014.

Both the Liberal Party and the ALP have had success in the electorate — the Liberal Party held the seat from 1985 until 2002 when it was won by Labor.

The Liberal Party regained the seat in 2010.

Amid a continued downward trend in polling, with a primary vote now at 30, Labor has decided not to contest the election in a move that avoids a major electoral test for Jacinta Allan.

Julie McLean is considered one of the main likely contenders of the Liberal Party pre-selection.

The election also shapes up as a major test for the Liberal Party, whose polling as surged in recent months.

The Coalition now leads the government on a two-party-preferred basis 51 to 49.

Pre-selection for a Liberal Party candidate is under way with Julie McLean and Rachel Westaway considered the likely main contenders.

At the last election the Greens picked up 36.4 per cent of primary votes comparted to the Liberal Party’s 31 per cent and Labor’s 26.6 per cent.

They won the seat with a 12 per cent margin following the distribution of preferences.

“With a swing like that, if we could win Prahran, we’d be looking to form government in 2026,” one senior Liberal source said.