Victorian election: Latest count reveals true Liberal Party defeat

Further vote counting shows the historically safe seat of Caulfield, among others, is “very close” to turning red for the first time.

15/11/2018: Victorian Liberal Leader Matthew Guy visits businesses in Caulfield with MP David Southwick in the lead up to the State Election. Stuart McEvoy/The Australian.

The full extent of the Liberal Party’s defeat in last weekend’s Victorian election is still revealing itself, as further vote counting revealed the historically safe seat of Caulfield is “very close” to turning red for the first time.

The seat in south east Melbourne has been held by Liberal David Southwick since 2010, and has never been won by the Labor party.

After initial results last Saturday showed that Labor Candidate Sorina Grasso’s strong performance on polling day would likely not be enough to see her claim the seat given Mr Southwick’s strong favour from postal and pre-polling votes, Victorian Electoral Commission figures at the end of counting on Friday showed Ms Grasso led Mr Southwick by just 50.16 per cent on a two party preferred basis - or 118 votes.

However The Australian understands that Labor and Liberal scrutineers yesterday discovered “major discrepancies” in misplaced votes that had yet to be reflected in the VEC’s already tight figures.

It is understood up to 200 votes for Ms Grasso were found in a pile of votes counted for Mr Southwick during vote rechecking. About 50 votes for Mr Southwick were also found in the Labor candidate’s pile too.

While today was the final day for postal votes to be received, scrutineers from both sides believe the final count will be so close that the losing candidate will ask for a recount.

The Australian has contacted the VEC for comment.

Shadow attorney-general and aspiring state opposition leader John Pesutto’s count in Hawthorn took a turn on Friday, with the latest figures from the Victorian Electoral Commission showing him 154 votes behind Labor’s John Kennedy.

Liberal Heidi Victoria, who has held the seat of Bayswater for 12 years, has also slipped 266 votes behind Labor’s Jackson Taylor.

Labor is also leading the once-safe Liberal seat of Nepean by 798 votes. However, after looking like the government would claim inner-city Brunswick with a stronger margin on Saturday night, the Greens were in front by 420 votes on Friday.

Prahran is also likely to stay with the Greens while national-turned-independent Russell Northe looks set to retain Morwell.

In Ripon, the Liberals lead Labor by 67 votes.

Meanwhile, results for 31 lower house seats have been finalised.

A Victorian Electoral Commission spokesman told The Australian that results reflecting a preference distribution would be updated early next week.

“The receipt of an additional 5,500 absent votes from this week’s declaration exchange meant that Caulfield District’s primary vote count recheck was finalised this morning”.

Additional Reporting: AAP