Results from 6pm; One Nation aim to snatch former Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley’s seat in NSW Riverina region; independent Michelle Millthorpe set to fight
Commission spokesman Evan Ekin-Smyth stated that the Australian Electoral Commission expects an above-average turnout in today’s by-elections, and warned that the results may be slow due to the large candidate pool.
Ekin-Smyth told Sky News this evening: “The latest figures I’ve seen suggest we’ll probably be above the last byelections like Cook, Aston and Dunkley. In terms of final turnout it’s probably somewhere in the range of 85 to 90 per cent, which is pretty good but below the national turnout of the last election.”
Ekin-Smyth called for patience at a time when the AEC is examining a larger pool of candidates than at the last election and changes in preferences are driven by what voters have seen before.
“Last year in the 2025 federal election Farrer had nine candidates and the average in the last federal election was between seven and eight per seat and 12 is clearly more than that,” Ekin-Smyth said.
“When we’re counting votes, for example, we may have multiple candidate-appointed auditors at our counting centers and polling places, which can slow things down a bit,” he said.
“A very competitive vote might also mean we have to be patient for a result and our motto is ‘always right, not rushed’. So we’ll see what happens tonight. But we urge people to be patient with us.”
