Fisher votes: Labor set for stunning victory
Labor is poised to secure a stunning victory in the by-election for the Adelaide seat of Fisher.
Labor’s Nat Cook was just ahead of the Liberals’ Heidi Harris after counting of votes from all nine booths on Saturday night.
Labor sources believed that the lead was much greater but the Electoral Commission had misallocated Labor preferences.
On Sundy, Labor’s suspicions were confirmed, with a recount showing an error at one polling place.
The recount has now catapulted Cook to a lead of more than 600 votes over Harris with pre-poll and postal votes to come.
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On a two party preferred basis, the Electoral Commission has Cook on 7,596 two-party preferred votes and Harris on 6,968.
The Liberals will need a huge majority of pre-poll and postal votes to peg back that lead.
On Saturday night, ABC election analyst Antony Green says the result will cause “huge recriminations” for the state and federal Liberals.
“This is an eight per cent swing towards a 12-year-old state government in a seat Labor hasn’t won since the 1985 state election,” he said.
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“If Labor has run a half-decent pre-poll and postal campaign, then they will win Fisher.”
The Liberals’ primary vote was unchanged from the 35 per cent it received at the March state election when it lost to long-serving independent Bob Such, who died in October.
Early results had the Liberals firmly in front, with independent Daniel Woodyatt also polling strongly.
But Labor surged ahead after favourable polling at several large booths.
If Labor wins Fisher, it will have a lower house majority in its own right for the first time since Premier Jay Weatherill scraped to power at the March state election.
A Labor win would prove a major blow to the Liberals’ chances of challenging legislation and raise questions about the leadership of Steven Marshall.
Labor has only held Fisher for one term – from 1985 to 1989 – since the seat was created in 1970.
The Electoral Commission will start counting postal votes on Monday and pre-poll votes on Tuesday.
– with AAP
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