Sunday 9 September 2018

How the NSW Wagga Wagga By-election is playing out for the Berejiklian Government



Darryl William Maguire ceased to be the state Member for Wagga Wagga on 3 August 2018 when he was allowed to resign in disgrace, after being identified by the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption as being involved in corrupt conduct.

The Wagga Wagga State District By-election was held on Saturday, 8 September 2018.

Electors enrolled on 17 August 2018 numbered 55,220 with 46,272 people casting their vote in this by-election.

There was a field of seven candidates voters could choose from.

By Saturday night it was evident that the NSW Liberal Party had likely lost the seat which it has held continuously since 1957, with an est. 30 per cent swing against the party on first preference voting.

Second preference ballot counting is now underway and the two remaining candidates are Independent Joe McGirr and Labor's Dan Hayes.

The final result is expected to leave the Berejiklian Coalition Government with 72 members out of a total of 135 upper and lower house parliamentarians, with the Coalition holding 56 per cent of the lower house seats.

The next NSW general election is on 23 March 2019.

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