Preference deals pay off for microparties and wipe out Greens in Victoria's Upper House

A new party set up by frustrated taxi drivers appears likely to win two seats in the next Legislative Council, despite winning only a tiny percentage of votes, according to projections using ABC analyst Antony Green’s election calculator.

The Transport Matters Party, run by hire car owner Rod Barton and running mostly Indian candidates, seems set to win the final seat in Eastern Metropolitan district from the Greens - despite winning only 0.6 per cent of the vote compared to the Greens’ 9.3 per cent.

The party also looked likely to take the final seat in South-East Metropolitan region from the Greens, while the Sustainable Australia Party would take the final seat in Southern Metropolitan from the Liberals.

The labyrinth deals organised by “preference whisperer” Glenn Druery have lifted the microparties to new heights, winning up to nine of the forty seats in the new council – even though their collective vote went down.

One of the biggest winners was the party of Druery’s employer, Senator Derryn Hinch. It appeared likely to take the final seat in the Northern Metropolitan region from Fiona Patten, leader of the Reason Party and the moving force behind the dying with dignity legislation.

Transport Matters co-founder Rod Barton.Credit: Jason South

The Hinch party will certainly take the final seat in Western Metropolitan region from the Greens, after its candidate, former Maribyrnong mayor Catherine Cumming won 6 per cent of the vote. It also looked well set to win a third seat in Western Victoria.

The Shooters party has retained its seats in Eastern Victoria and Northern Victoria, and could win the final seat in Western Victoria.

There was a big increase in the proportion of Victorians voting below the line, but most of them were supporting parties that were not part of Druery’s deals. Almost 90 per cent of voters still chose to tick the box, which meant that their preferences were decided by others.

So-called preference whisperer Glenn Druery.Credit: Andrew Meares

The secret of Druery’s success has been his ability to persuade all the microparties to exchange preferences with each other, rather than directing them to Labor, the Coalition or the Greens.

Labor scored huge swings, exceeding 10 per cent in most seats, and looks on track to win 19 of the 40 seats in the new chamber.

The Coalition looks likely to lose four seats to shrink to just 12, while the Greens were almost wiped out, retaining only their stronghold of Northern Metropolitan.

These projections are based on early figures, which could change. It is also possible that voting below the line in some seats could alter the projections.