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A by-election for the seat of Lyndhurst in the Victorian Legislative Assembly was held on 27 April 2013. The by-election was triggered by the resignation of Labor Party (ALP) member Tim Holding on 18 February 2013. [1] Martin Pakula retained the seat for Labor. [2]
The writ for the by-election was issued on 5 March 2013. The electoral roll in Lyndhurst closed on 12 March, and the final date for candidates to nominate was 28 March. Registration of how-to-vote cards [3] closed on 18 April. Polling day was 27 April. [4]
Candidates in ballot paper order for the by-election were: [2]
| Candidate nominations | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Sex Party | Martin Leahy | Contested Ferntree Gully for the Sex Party in 2010. | |
| Greens | Nina Springle | Community worker. Contested Lyndhurst for the Greens in 2010. | |
| Independent | Hung Vo | Contested Lyndhurst as an independent in 2010. | |
| Independent | Bobby Singh | Contested Division of Holt for the Palmer United Party in 2013. [5] | |
| Family First Party | Stephen Nowland | School worker, registered builder. | |
| Independent | David Linaker | Lost VCAT case to appear on the electoral roll as David Linaker-Liberal. Contested 2012 Niddrie by-election as an independent. | |
| Labor Party | Martin Pakula | Lawyer and previously an industrial officer, state secretary, and national vice-president of the NUW. Labor member of the Victorian Legislative Council seat of Western Metropolitan Region from 2006 to 2013. | |
| Democratic Labour Party | Geraldine Gonsalvez | Dandenong councillor from 2000 to 2003. Contested Victorian Legislative Council seat of South Eastern Metropolitan Region for the DLP in 2006 and 2010 and was on the Victorian DLP Senate ticket in 2010. | |
The Liberal Party declined to nominate a candidate for the by-election. [1]
How-to-vote cards are distributed to voters at polling stations to provide information about how the candidate suggests preferences be allocated. Candidates and parties suggesting preferences are shown in each column of the table below. The Sex Party released a card with two preferences allocated, one favoring Labor and the other favoring the Greens. The Greens ran an open card at this by-election. [6]
| Sex | Greens | Vo | Singh | Family First | Linaker | Labor | DLP | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sex | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 3 | 7 | |
| Greens | 3 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 8 |
| Vo | 4 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | |
| Singh | 5 | 5 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 4 | |
| Family First | 7 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 2 | |
| Linaker | 6 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 5 | |
| Labor | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 6 | |
| DLP | 8 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 1 | |
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labor | Martin Pakula | 12,899 | 41.0 | –14.5 | |
| Family First | Stephen Nowland | 4,454 | 14.1 | +9.3 | |
| Democratic Labour | Geraldine Gonsalvez | 3,467 | 11.0 | +9.8 | |
| Independent | Hung Vo | 3,070 | 9.7 | +6.2 | |
| Greens | Nina Springle | 2,960 | 9.4 | +3.3 | |
| Sex Party | Martin Leahy | 2,635 | 8.4 | +8.4 | |
| Independent | David Linaker | 1,370 | 4.4 | +4.4 | |
| Independent | Bobby Singh | 639 | 2.0 | +2.0 | |
| Total formal votes | 31,494 | 90.5 | –2.4 | ||
| Informal votes | 3,288 | 9.5 | +2.4 | ||
| Turnout | 34,782 | 80.1 | −12.4 | ||
| Two-candidate-preferred result | |||||
| Labor | Martin Pakula | 17,961 | 57.0 | –6.9 | |
| Family First | Stephen Nowland | 13,533 | 43.0 | +43.0 | |
| Labor hold | Swing | N/A | |||
The results are final. [9] Pre-poll and postal votes were included on election night upon which media outlets called the by-election for Labor. [10] [11] [12] The full preference distribution occurred on 1 May. [13]
