Legislative Council first preference votes have been counted in the Huon and Rosevears seats

First preference votes in the Legislative Council divisions of Huon and Rosevears have been revealed, with frontrunners emerging in both divisions.

ballot box

• Thousands of Tasmanians have already cast their votes in the Huon and Rosevear LegCo elections
• Legislative Council elections for Huon and Rosevears have been deferred

FRONTRUNNERS have emerged to claim the seats in the two electorates being voted on in this year’s Legislative Council elections.

Early counting in first preference votes was released by the Tasmanian Electoral Commission on Saturday evening, with leaders emerging for the Huon and Rosevears seats.

In Huon, 10,052 total ballot papers were counted with 30.05 per cent first preference votes (2906) going to general practitioner and Labor Party-endorsed Bastian Seidel.

Dr Bastian Seidel from the Huon Valley Health Centre. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

The Greens’ Pat Caruana also polled strongly with 1923 first preference votes.

In Rosevears, former newsreader Jo Palmer, running for the Tasmanian Liberals, collected 40.35 per cent of the 8654 ballot papers counted so far.

In Huon, 38.6 per cent of votes were counted, while 35.5 per cent of Rosevears votes were tallied as of Saturday night.

Former channel 7 news reader now Liberal candidate for Rosevears in the up coming election, Jo Palmer at her Launceston home. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Due to the high number of candidates in both divisions, the final results are unlikely to be known until August 11 once counting is complete.

About 40 per cent of voters in both electorates submitted votes through pre-poll or postal votes.

Last week more than 22,000 postal vote applications had been lodged by electors for the elections — four times the average number received at Legislative Council elections.