Labor’s Mike Kelly is set to win the tightly contested seat of Eden-Monaro.
With 83.5 percent of the votes counted, incumbent Dr Kelly has won 50.9 percent on a two-candidate preferred basis despite a swing of two percent against him and towards the Liberal Party.
It has been a tight race between Dr Kelly and the Liberals’ Fiona Kotvojs who has secured 49.2 percent of the votes.
The gap has continued to close, with less than 1500 votes between the two major candidates.
“It’s been very positive in terms of the results, it’s quite close,” Dr Kotvojs said.
“I’m really pleased we have a national Liberal government. That to me is the really critical thing.”
Dr Kotvojs said she would focus on improving the opportunities available to young people in the local community if she wins.
“In 30 years time, I want young people to be able to choose whether they want to leave or stay [in the area].”
Dr Kotvojs said the local media coverage worked against her campaign efforts and was “extremely frustrating” to deal with as a federal candidate.
“It’s been extremely difficult to get into the media locally, both the radio and local paper. I was really surprised because at some stage I thought they would do a profile piece.”
The Greens, who picked up 7.6 percent of the primary vote in the 2016 election, secured 8.4 percent of the first preference votes while The Nationals managed 7.1 percent.
Mike Kelly did not respond to request for comment before deadline.
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