Victorian election: exit poll predicts narrow Labor victory

VICTORIAN Labor remains favourite to win today’s election with the first exit polls pointing to a tight win for Daniel Andrews.

VICTORIAN Labor remains favourite to win today’s election with the first exit polls pointing to a tight win by ALP leader Daniel Andrews.

ALP sources said exit polls were favouring Labor 51 per cent to 49 per cent amid expectations a majority of the 1.1 million early and postal votes favoured the opposition.

Senior ALP sources said that the large number of early and postal votes meant the Coalition would need to be ahead in voting today by 51 per cent to 49 per cent.

Galaxy Research’s David Briggs has predicted a 49 seats to 39 seats Labor win.

Of a potential Labor win, Mr Briggs told Channel Seven: “It would be pretty much a certainty.’’

Newspoll in today’s edition of The Weekend Australian recorded a 52 per cent to 48 per cent Labor lead on the two party-preferred vote.

Former Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett said he didn’t believe there was a groundswell of anger against the Coalition.

“No-one’s out there with a baseball bat,’’ he said, describing the election as having lacked passion.

The Greens today issued how to vote cards in key seats without instructing voters on how to allocate preferences.

The move angered Labor but was in direct retaliation to Labor’s decision not to help the Greens with their preferences.

Former deputy federal leader Peter Costello told Channel Nine he believed the Coalition had started slowly during the campaign.

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“I think Labor got off to a faster start. But I do think Denis Napthine came home much stronger.’’

Labor sources said there had been a betting plunge on the Labor marginal seat of Cranbourne, which has a margin of 1.2 per cent.

The bet was reportedly on a Liberal win.

Liberal sources said the marginal seat had swung back to the Coalition last week.

The Newspoll exit poll recorded a 51 per cent Labor two party vote versus the Coalition’s 49 per cent.

The Sky News Newspoll found that 48 per cent of voters expected a Labor win compared with 30 per cent for the Coalition.

Most voters names health and education as the two most important issues, with the Victorian economy third.

FULL COVERAGE: Victoria decides