The Hodgman government has been returned with a majority following Saturday’s Tasmanian state election.
The ABC election analyst Antony Green called the election just before 9.30pm, saying the Liberals had won the 13 seats it needed in the 25-seat parliament to govern in its own right for a second term.
The Hobart Mercury has the Liberals on 13 seats, Labor on ten and the Greens with two.
Opposition Leader Rebecca White (pictured), who only took on the job last year, conceded defeat at 9.40pm
The Hodgman government has been returned with a majority following Saturday’s Tasmanian state election (pictured is Will Hodgman)
The former senator Jacqui Lambie (pictured), who did not stand, conceded defeat for her 12 candidates
The Liberal government went into this election with 15 seats and Labor seven. The Greens held three seats.
Opposition Leader Rebecca White, who only took on the job last year, conceded defeat at 9.40pm.
‘We always knew that we were up against it, and we have very nearly pushed a first-term government to defeat,’ she told cheering supporters at the tally room in Hobart.
‘We have won seats, we have had a swing state-wide back to the Labor Party this election.’
She said Labor had run a positive campaign on issues people cared about including housing and the health system.
The former senator Jacqui Lambie, who did not stand, conceded defeat for her 12 candidates.
‘We always knew that we were up against it, and we have very nearly pushed a first-term government to defeat,’ Ms White (pictured) told cheering supporters
‘We got done over by cash. We just didn’t have it,’ she said.
It’s back-to-back wins for Premier Will Hodgman who in 2014 led the Liberal Party to a convincing victory with a 12 per cent swing, winning 15 of 25 seats.
Tasmania uses the Hare-Clark electoral system, with five MPs elected in each of the five electorates.
Roughly 330,000 Tasmanians had been expected to vote throughout the day before polls closed at 6pm (AEDT).
Around 50,000 people have already pre-polled, the Tasmanian Electoral Commission says.
Tasmanian Liberal MP Elise Archer is seen in the Tally Room in Hobart, Tasmania during the election