The final count of votes in the Victorian electorate of McEwen has given the seat to the ALP candidate, Rob Mitchell, by 7 votes, in what is likely to be a federal record.
Despite holding a lead during most of the past two weeks of counting, the former Howard government minister, Fran Bailey, fell behind today as the final batch of postal and absentee votes was counted.
After the distribution of preferences, Bailey has 48,409 votes to Mitchell’s 48,416. This is a swing to the ALP of 6.42% from the 2004 election.
The AEC says there have already been two counts in the seat but that the candidates are entitled to a recount.
On present trends, if the ALP holds McEwen, it will have 84 of the 150 seats in the new House of Representatives.
