Corangamite result: pledges could be sweet and sour as seat hangs in the balance

THE Corangamite candidates for both major parties could neither concede nor claim victory last night as the margin in the federal election count in the Liberal-held seat narrowed to one per cent.

Major media outlets called the seat for Labor’s Libby Coker early on election night, but as the pre-poll votes were counted a clear trend in them towards Liberal incumbent Sarah Henderson emerged, meaning that supporters of both sides of politics left election night parties in Geelong without a clear winner.

Boundaries in Corangamite were redrawn following an Australian Electoral Commission review last year, making the seat notionally Labor’s or a razor thin margin of .03 per cent.

With more than 14,000 postal votes to be counted in the electorate the result may not officially be known until later this week.

With the Morrison government being returned as either a majority or minority government, it creates an interesting scenario in Corangamite should Labor’s Ms Coker win.

In an electorate where the race for the seat was described by some as reaching “peak pork” given the sheer amount of money pledged for local projects, it remains to be seen what would come of them from a Liberal government that may be forced to negotiate with independents to form government, and with a Labor member in the seat.