The vote
Coburg, Victoria
Australia voted on Saturday (3 May) and the ruling Labor Government was returned with a substantially increased majority.
There is a lot of colour and movement at our polling booths, but especially so in highly contested seats.
In the inner urban seat of Wills, which neighbours my own, the contest is between the Australian Labor Party and the Greens—and it is a pretty intense one.
Changing demographics in the southern part of the electorate has seen a once strongly working-class area gradually transform to one with a more knowledge-based population, hence the rise in support for the Greens. They made an all-out effort to win Wills from Labor with high-profile former local mayor and subsequent state leader of the party, Samantha Ratnam, running against the incumbent Labor MP, Peter Khalil.
I took this picture outside the Merri-bek Primary School in Coburg where there was a huge line up. I had spotted Peter Khalil when I arrived and then he seemed not to be there, so I assumed he had gone. On closer inspection of this picture, I found out he was still there and can be seen talking to a voter on the right-hand side of the picture between his sign and the Greens volunteer.
At the time of writing, Peter Khalil was still ahead in the count but narrowly so—things could change.
Tuesday: Peter Khalil has won Wills according to the ABC.
The vote
Coburg, Victoria
Australia voted on Saturday (3 May) and the ruling Labor Government was returned with a substantially increased majority.
There is a lot of colour and movement at our polling booths, but especially so in highly contested seats.
In the inner urban seat of Wills, which neighbours my own, the contest is between the Australian Labor Party and the Greens—and it is a pretty intense one.
Changing demographics in the southern part of the electorate has seen a once strongly working-class area gradually transform to one with a more knowledge-based population, hence the rise in support for the Greens. They made an all-out effort to win Wills from Labor with high-profile former local mayor and subsequent state leader of the party, Samantha Ratnam, running against the incumbent Labor MP, Peter Khalil.
I took this picture outside the Merri-bek Primary School in Coburg where there was a huge line up. I had spotted Peter Khalil when I arrived and then he seemed not to be there, so I assumed he had gone. On closer inspection of this picture, I found out he was still there and can be seen talking to a voter on the right-hand side of the picture between his sign and the Greens volunteer.
At the time of writing, Peter Khalil was still ahead in the count but narrowly so—things could change.
Tuesday: Peter Khalil has won Wills according to the ABC.