All seven MPs set to represent the Franklin electorate in the next Tasmanian parliament have been officially confirmed, 13 days after voters went to the polls.
Newcomer Peter George topped the count with a strong personal vote, becoming the first candidate elected. Former Labor minister David O’Byrne, running as an independent, secured the fourth seat.
The rest of the result saw all other MPs with previous experience in parliament returned.
The Liberal Party retained two seats with Eric Abetz and Jacquie Petrusma, Labor held two through Dean Winter and Meg Brown and the Greens kept their single seat with Rosalie Woodruff.
George dominated the first preference count with 11,499 votes out of his group’s total 12,499.
O’Byrne finished behind Labor leader Dean Winter with 8,223 first preferences, just 18 votes shy of Winter’s 8,241.
The Liberal Party recorded the strongest vote, capturing 34.37% of first preferences with 25,090 votes, which translated to 2.74 quotas.
However, that was not enough for a third seat, with sitting MP Nic Street falling 1,841 votes short of the quota in the final count.
Labor secured 22.78% of first preferences with 16,629 votes, while the Greens claimed 13.54% with 9,884 votes.
Under Tasmania’s Hare-Clark voting system, candidates needed to hit 9,126 votes to be elected.
