The National Party has conceded defeat in the Benalla by-election. Held by the conservative political parties since 1904, Benalla was snatched by the ALP yesterday with a swing of over 8%.
Counting of postal and pre-poll votes today has seen Labor’s Denise Allen (pictured) increase her lead over the National Party’s Bill Sykes.
Allen has been winning 50.5% of the postal votes, maintaining the trend of voters throughout the central Victorian electorate. She now has a two-party-preferred lead of 50.66%, or 390 votes. With about 1000 votes still to come in, she is in an unbeatable position.
The ALP’s primary vote has increased by 18.69% since the 1996 election when its candidate polled only 23.64%. Yesterday Allen polled 42.33% of the primary vote, down slightly from the 42.59% she secured in last year’s general election. Allen and former Deputy Premier Pat McNamara were the only candidates in that election.