The NSW Greens hopes of taking the seat of Lismore appear to be slipping with candidate Adam Guise admitting a win was ‘not looking likely’.
But Mr Guise is refusing to concede the seat, which hangs in the balance with just ‘a couple of hundred votes’, until the NSW Electoral Commission pushes the button to allow preference votes to flow through.
The Nationals are in front on 42.49 per cent of primary votes and need a preference flow percentage of 7.51 per cent to take victory.
Mr Guise – who spent time at the Bluesfest over the weekend to get away from the election – told Echonetdaily that a declaration was expected tomorrow.
And despite the final result expected to go to the Nationals, he said the closely fought contest had been a win for everyone opposed to coal seam gas.
‘Sixty per cent of the electorate have voted against Thomas George so whatever the outcome is tomorrow he is going to have to question how he has represented the electorate,’ Mr Guise said.
‘Historically it’s been a huge swing against the Nats. We’ve increased our vote everywhere, even doubling the vote in Tenterfield, which was included for the first time in the Lismore electorate.
‘We’ve run an extraordinarily successful campaign which has been a clear community victory against coal seam gas.’
The Australian newspaper today has reported that the National party is confident of retaining Lismore.
Ballina is another story.
Greens candidate Tamara Smith appears to have won the seat comfortably.
Meanwhile, results in the Upper House remain in question with the possibility of a legal challenge
The Animal Justice Party is battling it out with the No Land Tax Party, and the three major parties, for the last of 21 upper house seats.
An early hiccup with the state’s electronic voting system, iVote, saw AJP and another party left off the ‘above the line’ section of the ballot paper.
A spokesperson for the AJP said if the result did not go their way, they would consider a legal challenge which could result in the ballot being declared void.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
