Nationals incumbent Andrew Gee has romped home in the seat of Orange with what he believes could be a swing towards him.
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With 3565 per cent of the vote counted on Saturday night, Mr Gee had claimed 71.9 per cent of the primary vote, followed by Labor candidate Bernard Fitzsimon on 28.1 per cent and Greens candidate Janelle Bicknell on 6.9 per cent.
Christian Democratic Party candidate John Gilbert and No Land Tax candidate Juan Fernandez had gained 2.5 per cent and 1.7 per cent of the vote respectively.
Mr Gee accounted for the highest number of primary votes in the booths counted until that point.
At about 8.30pm Saturday, Mr Gee said the results from a sufficient number of booths indicated a “very strong win”.
He said he had not had the opportunity yet to calculate a swing.
“I think the results are better than four years ago, I think four years ago we got about 56 per cent of the primaries,” he said.
“We have won, it would seem, every booth in the electorate, including some of the more difficult booths that we haven’t won before, like Peak Hill, and the numbers at those booths are quite overwhelming,” he said.
“It was very encouraging that Glenroi has kept the faith and I think from memory the numbers in Glenroi are better than they were.”
He thanked voters for the faith they placed in him, as well as his family and friends, party members and volunteers, and his staff for their help during the campaign.
Mr Gee also thanked the other candidates.
“Campaigns are tiring and stressful for everyone and so I’d like to thank them for their campaigns and their contributions to the political debate,” he said.
Mr Gee took out top position in all of the polls in the electorate to retain the seat of Orange with 65.35 per cent of the first preference votes on the initial count.
In Parkes and Forbes, which joined the seat of Orange following boundary redistribution, Mr Gee again scored well taking 1418 of the 2053 formal votes recorded at the Forbes Town Hall.
At Parkes Library where the majority of people voted, Mr Gee secured 991 votes with Mr Fitzsimon getting just under half that with 434 votes.
At Bletchington Public School, in a reflection of the growing north Orange population, 1744 residents voted for Mr Gee with 751 voting for Country Labor’s Bernard Fitzsimon.
Janelle Bicknell representing the Greens managed to get 218 votes with Fred Nile’s Christian Democrats securing 77 votes followed by the No Land Tax Party with 47.
This result was a snapshot of voting trends in the majority of booths with the Christian Democrats consistently scoring higher than the No Land Tax Party, both put forward candidates who did not live in the electorate and were unfamiliar to voters
It was at Glenroi Public School where Country Labor came the closest to clawing back the Nationals with Mr Gee securing 626 votes compared to Mr Fitzsimon’s 468 votes.
In the booths of Molong, Eugowra and Mullion Creek where the Nationals have traditionally scored well over many decades, the story was repeated.
At Molong, 951 votes went to Mr Gee, with Mr Fitzsimon a fair way behind at 198 votes and Ms Bicknell coming in with 66 votes. A large number of voters turned out at Orange High School where 2388 people voted - 1618 of them for Mr Gee, 516 for Mr Fitzsimon and 175 for Ms Bicknell.
At the booth at Orange Public School Ms Bicknell of the Greens managed to close the gap on Mr Fitzsimon with 234 votes to Labor’s 470.
At this booth Mr Gee scored 1129 votes.