Michael Gunner’s Labor team is expected to retain government in the Northern Territory, where vote counting has resumed in the tight-run race.

August 23, 2020

Labor is edging closer to a majority in the knife-edge Northern Territory election, which is the first major political test of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vote counting resumed at 10am on Sunday after NT leader Michael Gunner told supporters in a late-night speech he would lead a Labor government following Saturday’s election.

“Labor is in front on the votes, Labor is in front on the seats and tonight I can tell you I am very confident Labor will form the next government of the Northern Territory,” he said.

The battle is coming down to a handful of key seats, including Arnhem, Araluen, Barkly, Brennan, Braitling, Daly, Katherine and Namatjira.

Labor was ahead on primary votes in Arnhem and Katherine on Sunday but the two-party preferred count is yet to be confirmed.

The party was also ahead of the Country Liberal Party in Barkly by 102 two-party preferred at 11.39am CST.

The race is tighter in Daly and Namatjira, where the CLP led Labor by seven and 25 votes respectively on a two-party preferred basis at 12.26pm, with almost 62 per cent of ballots counted.

It was also neck-and-neck in Brennan and Braitling, where the CLP has also edged ahead of Labor by 59 and 115 votes on a two-party preferred basis respectively.

In Araluen, Territory Alliance candidate incumbent Robyn Lambley led the CLP’s Damien Ryan by just 26 votes at 12.26pm.

About 4000 postal votes were counted on Sunday, providing further insight into the seat of the Port of Darwin, where Labor is ahead of the CLP by 211 votes at 12.26pm on a two-party preferred basis.

On Saturday night, Labor secured 38.9 per cent of the primary vote to the CLP’s 31.8 per cent.

Mr Gunner’s team was on track to take at least 12 seats in the 25-seat assembly despite a 3.3 per cent swing against it.

But Labor scrutineers expected the 13th seat to be secured, delivering a majority. Labor won 18 seats in the 2016 poll.

Despite strict rules on social distancing being the norm across the country, Mr Gunner hugged and shook hands with supporters in Darwin as arrived to address the party faithful and media.

He paid tribute to health workers, police and other frontline staff who had helped the NT get through the pandemic with only 33 cases of COVID-19.

“2020 – bloody hell,” he said.

“It’s not over yet.”

Earlier in the evening, CLP leader Lia Finocchiaro stepped up to the podium in a positive mood, having lifted her party’s stocks from the two seats it took into the election.

It could pick up as many as nine seats but currently appears on track to clinch seven.

The 35-year-old lawyer, who has not conceded defeat, said she had started a “new generation” for the CLP.

“There are still a lot of votes to count but if there is one thing I know it is that the CLP is back.”

The Territory Alliance formed by former chief minister Terry Mills was struck a blow, with the party leader on track to lose his seat of Blain, ending two decades in politics.

However, Mr Mills did not concede on Saturday night and remained positive the NT needed an alternative to the major parties.

Territory Alliance could win at least one seat.

A formal declaration of the poll is not scheduled until September 7, three days after postal votes close.