Boothby pulls ahead in Brennan after six days of vote counting

THE Palmerston seat of Brennan looks likely to be won by the CLP, though candidates in that seat and four others are no closer to clarity after six days of vote counting in the NT post-election wash-up

THE Palmerston seat of Brennan looks likely to be won by the CLP, though candidates in that seat and four others are no closer to clarity after six days of vote counting in the NT post-election wash-up.

CLP’s Marie-Clare Boothby is ahead of incumbent Labor MLA Tony Sievers by 94 votes in Brennan, which was enough for ABC election analyst Antony Green’s algorithms to switch the seat to a gain for the opposition.

Ms Boothby, who isn’t declaring victory yet, said it was “looking really good” and she would be “remaining positive”.

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“It’s been a long few days and of course there’s a lot of counting to go,” she said.

After the sixth day of counting, the results in Brennan and four other seats remain incredibly close, with Namatjira remaining the closest race.

CLP’s Bill Yan is leading Labor’s Sheralee Taylor by just nine votes, while Labor’s Mark Turner continues to keep ahead of CLP’s Matthew Kerle in Blain by 14 votes.

In Araluen, Territory Alliance’s only remaining MLA Robyn Lambley is ahead of CLP’s Damien Ryan by just 12 votes. This was down from 34 votes the day prior though it appears to be corrections to the count.

Tasmanian psephologist Dr Kevin Bonham believes Ms Lambley looks likely to retain her seat. Mr Green still has the seat in doubt.

There will be no vote counting on Monday either, with the NTEC to call in scrutineers to review determinations made during preliminary scrutiny of declaration votes, which are ballots cast by people who register to get on the electoral roll on the day.

The review sessions will take place in Darwin and Alice Springs from 9am to 4pm, with electorates with a margin of less than 100 to occur first.

The division of Mulka, which was hit by two vote recording stuff-ups earlier in the week, will also be reviewed.