Grayndler called for Albanese as Labor look to take government

By SHARLOTTE THOU

Labor leader and longtime Member for Grayndler Anthony Albanese has been called as the winner of the Inner West seat, as the party continues its challenge against the Coalition to take government on election night.

With over 20 per cent of votes counted at the time of publication, Albanese has received just under 54 per cent of first preferences, with the closest challenger, Greens candidate Rachael Jacobs, having recorded just over 22 per cent of votes.

There has been no major swing (0.09 per cent) in the electorate.

Albanese, who has held Grayndler since 1996, was all but assured to keep the electorate and is hoping that his party can reach 76 seats in the House of Representatives to form a majority government, which would install himself as prime minister.

Months of campaigning have finally come to an end in the seat of Grayndler, which is Australia’s smallest electorate and covers the inner-southern Sydney metropolitan area and parts of the Inner West.

As of 8:30pm, Liberal candidate Ben Zhang has received 15.9 per cent of votes, trailing Albanese and Jacobs. 
 
The first-preference breakdown of votes is as follows:
 
Anthony Albanese (ALP) – 53.9 per cent
 
Rachael Jacobs (Greens) – 22.3 per cent
 
Ben Zhang (Liberals) – 15.9 per cent
 
David Smith (UAP) – 2.2 per cent
 
Sarina Kilham (IND) – 1.7 per cent
 
Paul Henselin (ON) – 1.5 per cent
 
James Haggerty (SOPA) – 1.3 per cent
 
Michael Armando Dello-Iacovo (AJP) – 1.2 per cent