The 2015 Queensland election was held on Saturday 31 January.
The last postal votes were received on Tuesday 10 February.
And now ECQ spokesman Carrick Brough says another 30 seats will be declared by the end of the month!
The ECQ has proven itself to be one of the most-bureacratic, lethargic government organisations in the state of Queensland.
It's handling of the 2012 Local Government election still sends shivers down the spines of hard-nosed elected members and candidates.
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| The only way to describe the ECQ. |
But when the political parties and the people of Queensland are screaming out for certainty in government, the ECQ blithely announces that 66 seats of the 89 would be declared by the end of the month.
Yes - the end of the month, almost two and half weeks away!
A full month from election day to count less than 75 percent of the seats!
That is absolutely hopeless and a shocking indictment on the Electoral Commission of Queensland.
The Courier-Mail reports:
FERNY Grove has been declared by the Electoral Commission of Queensland, bringing Labor’s Annastacia Palaszczuk one step closer to Government House.
Ms Palaszczuk said earlier this week that she would seek Governor Paul de Jersey’s permission to seek government once the seat was declared and expected to do so by close of business today.
The declared result puts Labor’s Mark Furner ahead of the LNP’s Dale Shuttleworth, with 50.73 per cent of the vote on a two-party preferred basis.
Earlier today, the Electoral Commission Queensland said it would send the Ferny Grove poll to the courts as soon as it was declared to determine if a re-election is needed, an official revealed this morning.
ECQ spokesman Carrick Brough said of the 89 seats, 36 had been declared and another 30 were expected to be declared by the end of the month.
“There are hundreds of people around the state trying to get a result out by the end of the week,” Mr Brough told 4BC.
“There might be really close stuff we might have to go back and have a second look at.”
Mr Brough said Ferny Grove, which was in question after it was revealed an ineligible candidate had contested the poll, would be referred to the Court of Disputed Returns as soon as it was declared.
“What they will do, they will look and see would we have got a different result in different circumstances, that’s the big question for the courts,” he said.
“Their power is only to intervene if if it would have been a different result.
“If there’s been a procedural error, or as we’ve seen here a an error with the eligibility of candidates, if that wouldn’t have affected the result then they may not see a need for the by-election or re-election.”
The Court of Disputed Returns has to be petitioned within seven days of the declaration for a case to be heard.
In this case it is the ECQ, not a political party or individual, which is expected to petition the court.
It was revealed after the January 31 election that the Palmer United Party candidate for Ferny Grove was an undischarged bankrupt, which makes them ineligible to stand for election.
