Liberals claim victory in Nepean byelection ahead of state poll

The Liberals have claimed victory in a key Victorian byelection seen as a preview of what to expect when the rest of the state hits the polls in November . As counting continued in the Mornington peninsula seat of Nepean, the Liberal candidate, Anthony Marsh, appeared to be in a commanding position in a significant boost to opposition leader Jess Wilson. With close to 80% of the vote counted, Marsh had 38.5% of the primary vote, and 63.4% on a two-candidate basis. However, the Victorian Electoral Commission was initially running the two-candidate vote as a race between the Liberals and independent Tracee Hutchison. Hutchison was in second place early in the count, but later slipped behind One Nation’s Darren Hercus. Hercus had 24.7% of the primary vote to Hutchison’s 21.3%. In a speech to supporters, Marsh said he was “so glad I could bring it home for you tonight. This is the honour of my life to be standing here as the next member for Nepean,” he said. “I’ll be on the ground each and every single day fighting for the people of Nepean as we lead into one of the most important state elections that we’ve seen.” Welcoming the result, Wilson said the party still had more work to do before the November poll. Labor opted not to field a candidate in the byelection and while the Liberals retained Nepean, the party suffered close to a 10% swing against it on the primary vote. …