By Callum Ludwig
The seat of Casey remained on a knife’s edge until late in the night and a late shift has seen the seat still in doubt.
The ABC had declared the seat had been retained by incumbent MP Aaron Violi but a 12am update reversed this call in an electorate not even considered a ‘Key Seat’ prior to election day.
According to the AEC’s Tally Room, where 60 of 65 polling places in Casey and 99.99 per cent of have had a two-candidate-preferred vote count undertaken, Labor’s Naomi Oakley currently has her nose ahead 50.19 per cent to Violi’s 49.81 per cent.
It’s a remarkable shift with Violi previously leading the TCP count 50.98 per cent to Labor candidate Naomi Oakley’s 49.02 per cent at 11.30pm on Saturday 3 May.
The ABC had called the seat for Violi with 50 per cent of the vote counted, when he held 50.6 per cent to Oakley’s 49.4 per cent, expecting him to increase his margin to 1.6 per cent. However, now Oakley is ahead of Violi by a mere 262 votes (50.2 per cent of the vote) with 57.2.
As of 7am Sunday 4 May, The Greens Merran Blair had 12.2 per cent of the first preference vote and independent Claire Ferres-Miles is not far behind with 12.1 per cent. They are followed by One Nation’s Ambere Livori (5.1 per cent), Trumper of Patriots Phillip Courtis (3.3 per cent), Family First’s Dan Nebauer (3.1 per cent) and the Animal Justice Party’s Chloe Bond (2.2 per cent).
