The Liberals put up a fight against 23 years of Labor dominance as the early results from the ACT election rolled in, but Labor has won a seventh consecutive term.
When just over half of the vote was counted on Saturday night, Liberals were outpolling the incumbent Labor Party after a surprising show of support.
Yet as the vote count progressed, ABC’s election analyst Antony Green said the results were “leaning towards Labor negotiating its way into government after this election”.
However, he cautioned “it’s not locked down clear.“
Despite 23 years of leading the ACT, Labor has seen a more than 3 per cent swing against the Party in the election results.
The hopes of Liberals were somewhat dented by an error that saw all 900 votes cast in Brindabella allocated to their party. The votes are now being re-counted.
Labor and Liberal candidates fought to increase their share of the 25 seats in the Legislative Assembly.
Looking at the votes that have already been counted, Mr Green expects there will be 10 seats for the Liberals, 10 for Labor, three for the Greens and two for the independents.
With more than 66 per cent of the vote counted, 10 seats have been declared for Labor, eight for Liberals, and one for the independents.
Mr Green said there was no viable way for the ACT Liberals to form government but Labor would be able to form a governing coalition government.
Liberal leader Elizabeth Lee conceded defeat around 9.30pm on Saturday, telling her colleagues they knew they had a “pretty steep uphill battle to climb”.
“Today, the people of the Australian Capital Territory have spoken. They have voted for change, but perhaps not quite enough to get us there,” she said.
Ms Lee congratulated Labor and its leader Andrew Barr, saying “no matter how you cut it up, 27 years … is an incredible feat”.
She said she thought the result showed the territory had missed out on an opportunity for a fresh start after nearly three decades under the same party, but said she had made Labor work.
“I truly believe that we are the better team. And I really think that we … have what it takes to deliver the refresh for the ACT that is sorely needed,” the Liberal leader said.
“I think that we can be proud of our efforts, because we really did take it to Labor, and we closed the gap between the Labor and Liberal vote”.
Ms Lee conceded defeat on Saturday during a call to incumbent ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr, who has led the territory for the past ten years.
He has cemented his place as the longest serving state or territory leader in the country.
Mr Barr and Ms Lee were re-elected alongside ACT Greens’ Shane Rattenbury in Canberra’s central electorate of Kurrajong soon after the vote count began on Saturday night.
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