Slow crawl towards the final result

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IT’S 11 days since the election, so it’s fair to ask: “Are we nearly there yet?” The answer is yes and no.

The Australian Electoral Commission considers only one seat still “close” – Corangamite in Victoria. Labor’s Darren Cheeseman has a lead of more than 700 votes with fewer than 6000 to count, prompting him to claim victory yesterday.

That leaves Labor and the Coalition tied on 72 seats each, with the balance of power held by a Green, four independents and an independently-minded National.

The crossbenchers said they would make their decisions soon on who they will support to form government but the complete picture of what happened will take longer to determine. There was excitement in Coalition ranks yesterday as the Opposition hit the lead on the two-party preferred vote but by lunchtime Labor was back in front.