Labor claims historic Corangamite victory

Kim Waters
LABOR’S Darren Cheeseman has claimed victory in the federal seat of Corangamite with more than 3000 votes left to count.
His spokesperson said Mr Cheeseman was preparing to “work like hell” after one of the tightest election contests in the country.
Liberal candidate Sarah Henderson now faced an “impossible” task of snatching the seat from Mr Cheeseman’s lead of more than 700 votes.
“She would have to get something like over 70 per cent of the votes left and that’s never been done in history,” the spokesperson said.
He credited Labor’s “hand-to-hand combat” campaign style for winning Corangamite.
“When we were elected (in 2007) Darren said the only way to hold onto this seat was to act like we had a 900-day campaign and to treat every single day as though there was an election on the weekend.
“Darren has worked like he’s had a fire in his breeches.”
The spokesperson said Mr Cheeseman had become the first Labor MP re-elected in Corangamite.
Deakin politics professor Geoffrey Robinson said Mr Cheeseman had “definitely” won the seat.
“Although the continuing counting of postal votes has closed the gap a bit, and that’s a reflection that the Liberal have done well in the postals just like they did in 2007, but just like 2007 it won’t be enough to close the gap again,” he said.
Ms Henderson refused to concede defeat, arguing a Liberal victory was “still mathematically possible”.
“While it appears the Mr Cheeseman will hold the seat, the outcome will not be known until the last couple of thousand votes are counted,” she said.
“There has been a small swing to us. I am particularly uplifted by our strong primary vote, which is currently at 45.02 per cent compared with Labor’s primary vote of 39.57 per cent.”
An Australian Electoral Commission spokesperson said counting would “probably” resume this Friday after going on hold since Wednesday.