coalition might get 75 seats, page-2

Postal votes turn in Liberals' favour


Tony Abbott has emerged with a possible three-seat lead in the House of Representatives after the latest vote counts.

Labor has now fallen further behind in the crucial West Australian seat of Hasluck and is trailing independent Andrew Wilkie in the Tasmanian seat of Denison.

As the Liberals improved their positions in Dunkley in Victoria and Boothby in South Australia, the Australian Electoral Commission put the Victorian Labor-held seat of Corangamite back in the "too close to call" category after Liberal candidate Sarah Henderson pegged back Darren Cheeseman's lead to 639 votes.

Senior officials from Labor and the Coalition warned it could be well into next week before a clear picture emerges of the final state of the parliament.

The Liberals' leads in the remaining marginal seats put the party on track to finish with at least 73 seats and possibly 74 if it overtakes Labor in Corangamite. Labor could finish with 71 if it fails to win Denison and Corangamite.

As counting moved to pre-poll and postal votes, senior officials from both sides expressed frustration at the slow pace of the count in Hasluck, which could prove pivotal in the race for The Lodge. The Liberals' Ken Wyatt now holds a lead of 539 votes over sitting Labor member Sharryn Jackson after the counting of postal and pre-poll votes began. The result improved Mr Wyatt's position by 161 votes from the close of counting on Monday.

Labor had been hopeful of pegging back Mr Wyatt after it had processed far more postal vote applications than the Liberal Party, but the trend continued to favour Mr Wyatt.

In Denison, Mr Wilkie holds a lead of 1375 votes over Labor's Jonathan Jackson, but people close to the count say it remains too close to call with several thousand postal votes outstanding.

Because Mr Wilkie is running third in the contest on primary votes, he is relying on a complicated flow of preferences from the Greens and the Liberals to stay ahead of Mr Jackson.

The Liberals also improved their position in Dunkley after counting yesterday, with sitting member Bruce Billson increasing his lead over Labor's Helen Constas to 906 votes from 616 at the close of counting on Monday.

Mr Billson said he was encouraged by the trend in postal votes, which had traditionally favoured him, but he remained "circumspect" with another 3000 postal votes to be counted.

In Boothby, sitting Liberal Andrew Southcott pulled further ahead of his Labor rival, Annabel Digance. At the close of the count last night, he had stretched his lead to 1071 votes from the 657 margin he held on Monday night.

Mr Southcott said postal votes were running about 59 per cent in his favour, but there were still more than 5000 to come.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/postal-votes-turn-in-liberals-favour/story-fn59niix-1225909603979