Territory Alliance still has ‘outside chance’ of pulling off a win in Namatjira, says election analyst Antony Green

TERRITORY Alliance candidate Matt Paterson could still have an ‘outside chance’ of pulling off a win in the seat of Namatjira, according to a leading election analyst.

TERRITORY Alliance candidate Matt Paterson could still have an “outside chance” of pulling off a win in the seat of Namatjira, according to a leading election analyst.

The NT Electoral Commission (NTEC) has admitted 648 postal votes to the count this week, as of Thursday, ahead of Friday’s midday deadline for outstanding postal votes.

There are a handful of votes still to be counted, including about 75 in Barkly, 23 in Blain, 58 in Araluen and 66 in Namatjira.

There are also more than 140 postal votes outstanding for all four seats.

The NTEC will be counting all the remaining votes that have been admitted to the count after noon on Friday.

This will be followed by the distribution of preferences for each division, which should be completed by 10pm.

ABC analyst Antony Green said the distribution of preferences could yet change the final competing candidates.

He said this was especially pertinent in Namatjira, where he thought there was still an outside chance of a Territory Alliance win.

Namatjira candidates Bill Yan (CLP), Matt Paterson (Territory Alliance) and Sheralee Taylor (Labor).

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“CLP candidate Bill Yan leads with 1034 votes (29.3 per cent) to Labor’s Sheralee Taylor on 967 (27.4 per cent), the Territory Alliance’s Matt Paterson on 800 (22.6 per cent) in third place, with a combined 733 votes (20.7 per cent) for the lower-placed Federation Party, Green and an independent,” he said.

“The current preference count has Yan leading Taylor by six votes, but Yan’s first preference tally is so low that his chance of victory is wiped out if Taylor is passed by Paterson during the distribution of preferences.”

Mr Paterson told the NT Newshe was “frankly surprised” to hear that he was still in the hunt for Namatjira.

“I won’t invest too much into it and will just wait ’til the Friday count,” he said.

“I think a lot of Namatjira voters, especially those living near town, are disillusioned with the major parties.”

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All declaration votes have been scrutinised and returned from the Australian Electoral Commission.

A total of 1770 were admitted to the count, of which 29 were still set to be counted on Friday.

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