Queensland election: Recounts ordered in Labor seats
There will be a recount in the electorates of Bundaberg and Nicklin, after Labor won by just 11 and 78 votes respectively.
Recounts have been ordered in two Queensland electorates that Labor took off the Liberal National Party in narrow wins.
The Electoral Commission of Queensland confirmed it will accede to a request from the LNP for a recount in the seats of Bundaberg and Nicklin, both north of Brisbane, after they swung to Labor.
After counting finished on Wednesday night, Labor sneaked to a surprise victory in Bundaberg by just 11 votes and finished 78 ahead in Nicklin.
The Liberal National Party, which won by 310 votes in the electorate of Currumbin, has challenged the results in Bundaberg and Nicklin.
The final tally from the October 31 election gives Annastacia Palaszczuk’s government 52 seats in the 93-seat unicameral parliament, a net increase of four after Labor lost Jackie Trad’s seat of South Brisbane to the Greens.
The LNP will hold 34 seats – a net loss of five after it won Whitsunday – while the seven-member crossbench will consist of three from Katter’s Australian Party, two from the Greens, one from One Nation and independent Sandy Bolton.
In a statement, ECQ commissioner Pat Vidgen said he had confidence in the tally in both seats, but had ordered a recount given the closeness of the vote.
“It is in the public interest for all stakeholders to have absolute confidence in the results of the electoral process,” he said.
“The LNP has made a formal request for the recounts and the ECQ has agreed to this request.
“While there is no prescribed recount requirement in Queensland’s Electoral Act 1992, a federal automatic recount is triggered by less than 100 votes.
“Both Bundaberg and Nicklin are under that federal trigger threshold and it is therefore appropriate a recount is conducted.”
In a statement on Wednesday night, an LNP spokesman said the party had requested a recount in Nicklin and Bundaberg.
“We believe that there are reasonable grounds for the request, but won’t be litigating those reasons through the media,” the spokesman said.
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