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.
What a sad result for Ballina, can’t believe people can be so gullible and taken in by lies and misinformation.
Don’t think she’ll be there next time though , we’ll be a forgotten area for 4 years.
At least Labor got done over by their mates.
No, it is a glorious result for the Ballina electorate. The Green vote was not just about fracking and CSG, but
it is a response by intelligent people to the state of our planet.
If, as it appears, that Lismore remains with the Nationals, that will be a sad day.
It’s a sad day when you can’t have your comments printed by the Eco all one sided reporting
Seriously Pamela…. The Nationals have gone back 60 years and need to catch up with the rest of the world as we are in the 21st century ! A big wake up this result for The New South Wales government for not listening to the people of this area and other farming areas of N.S.W.
As said we have lost representation for the next 4 years. Done over by a party with little scrupples. Labor will not be caught again so easy.
Thomas George vs Tamara Smith – that going to be interesting. But I felt so amazed that 87% of people say no to CSG in Lismore, but still votes for the Nats?! I can sense something is wrong here..
This was as a response to Pamela’s post.
“What a sad result for Ballina, can’t believe people can be so gullible and taken in by lies and misinformation.”
The Nationals have been doing it for years in the Ballina electorate so too Thomas George in Lismore!
What surprises me is that the people are waking up to that fact and taking a punt for something better.