Longman by-election: Liberal Democrats score top spot on ballot paper

Minor parties have drawn the No 1 position on ballot papers for three of the Super Saturday by-elections.

Labor candidate and former MP for Longman Susan Lamb. Picture: AAP

Labor and Liberal candidates contesting crucial “Super Saturday” by-elections have suffered a blow after a gaggle of minor parties scored the No 1 position on ballot papers.

Ex-Labor MP Justine Keay, who resigned from her seat of Braddon in May for being a British citizen at the time of the 2016 election, drew the last spot on the Tasmanian ballot, three places behind Liberal candidate and former MP Brett Whiteley.

The Liberal Party considers it a real possibility Mr Whiteley could reclaim the knife-edge seat, which Ms Keay held on a 2.2 per cent margin.

Jarrod Edwards of the Greens took pole position on the Braddon ballot, while David Leyonhjelm’s Liberal Democrats also scored a coup in Longman by securing top spot for its candidate Lloyd Thomas John Russell — eight places ahead of Liberal candidate Trevor Ruthenberg.

Eleven candidates have been declared for the 2018 Longman by-election. Pic shows candidates in ballot paper order #auspol #2018byelections pic.twitter.com/u6acBAjcQD

— AEC (@AusElectoralCom) July 6, 2018

Liberal strategists have long complained of Liberal Democrats poaching votes from their candidates because voters confuse the two parties, as occurred in the 2013 election that unexpectedly catapulted Senator Leyonhjelm into office.

Senator Leyonhjelm’s party drew the first column on the NSW Senate ballot paper in 2013, securing a 7.2 per cent swing. Meanwhile the Liberal-National ticket, relegated to the 25th column, won 34.2 per cent of the primary vote despite receiving 47.3 per cent support for the lower-house.

The Democratic Labour Party’s Gregory Bell drew third place on the Longman ballot, presenting a similar problem for Labor’s eighth-placed Susan Lamb as the Liberal Democrats pose to Mr Ruthenberg, who drew ninth.

Both major party candidates placed below One Nation’s Matthew Stephen but above the Greens’ Gavin Behrens.

The socially conservative DLP poses little direct threat to Labor’s Ms Lamb in Longman but, if the party draws a higher position on the ballot paper, it could sap valuable votes from the ALP candidate. It typically performs about twice as strongly when placed above Labor on a ballot paper.

The Coalition needs to claw back just 700 votes from Labor to win the Queensland seat.

The Christian Democratic Party’s Tracey-Lee Lane won top spot on the ballot drawn for the South Australian seat of Mayo, placing her three rungs above Liberal Georgina Downer and four rungs above the electorate’s former member and Centre Alliance candidate Rebekha Sharkie.

Mayo appeared likely to be returned to the Coalition at the start of the campaign but a number of polls have Ms Sharkie well clear of Ms Downer, her main rival.

Seven candidates have been declared for the 2018 Mayo by-election. Pic shows candidates in ballot paper order #auspol #2018byelections pic.twitter.com/0nRvYU3hwh

— AEC (@AusElectoralCom) July 6, 2018

The Greens’ Dorinda Cox won out over Labor’s Josh Wilson on the Fremantle ballot paper, gaining second spot. Mr Wilson, who held the seat on a 7.52 per cent margin until he too was captured by the dual citizenship fiasco, received the fourth spot out of a field of seven candidates.

The ballot paper for the seat of Perth was the most crowded with 15 candidates. Labor’s Patrick Gorman placed seventh ahead of the Greens’ Caroline Perks at No 10.

The order of the five ballot papers were drawn at random by the Australian Electoral Commission.

Four of the July 28 by-elections were triggered by resignations of MPs caught in the dual citizenship crisis, while the fifth was created after ex-Labor member for Perth Tim Hammond resigned for family reasons.

Eight candidates have been declared for the 2018 Braddon by-election. Pic shows candidates in ballot paper order #auspol #2018byelections pic.twitter.com/OclDSf36Wm

— AEC (@AusElectoralCom) July 6, 2018