Chief Minister Gary Humphries is willing to deal with the Democrats, offering a Ministry or a coalition, so the Liberals can stay in Government.
He told ABC radio that the previous Liberal administration had elevated Independent Michael Moore to the ministry and he was willing to deal again – “”from a full-scale coalition through to an informal membership of cabinet, which involved a capacity to separate from cabinet such as with Michael Moore, through to less formal relationships with other independents and crossbenchers”.
ACT Democrat candidate Jane Errey said all options were open, but party president Wayne Seivers said it was a ploy to damage the Democrats federal Senate campaign by painting the Democrats out to be closely aligned with the Liberal Party which was not the case.
Mr Humphries said the Liberals should not be ruled out just because they trailed Labor in the vote count.
“”It doesn’t necessarily matter what your primary vote is, what matters at the end of the day are the numbers on the floor of the
Assembly,” he said.
Ms Errey said, “”If we get a choice of Chief Minister we’ll look at both parties and what they have to offer, and talk to our membership and look at what the people of Canberra voted for.”
Labor Leader Jon Stanhope accused Mr Humphries of arrogance, with Labor winning more votes than the Liberals and Democrats combined.
The argument might become academic if Labor wins a third seat in Brindabella, giving it eight seats which combined with the Greens Kerrie Tucker would make a majority of nine.
That possibility remained open yesterday after some further counting of votes in Saturday’s election. The final result is not expect until after the close of the postal vote on Friday.
After counting of a further 7000 votes yesterday:
In Molonglo:
Labor has three seats: MLAs Ted Quinlan and Simon Corbell and the third likely going to Christina Ryan or Katy Gallagher.
The Liberals have two: Chief Minister Gary Humphries and either of MLAs Greg Cornwell or Jacqui Burke (who according to scrutineers are picking up the lion’s share of Mr Humphries’ over quota to put them ahead of the other Liberals).
Greens MLA Kerrie Tucker also has a seat. The last seat is still a tussle between the Democrats’ Jane Errey and a third Liberal – either Ms Burke or Mr Cornwell.
In yesterday’s count, the Democrats slipped back slightly from 7.83 per cent of the vote to 7.75 per cent, but Ms Errey still has to be favoured for the seat.
In Brindabella:
The major parties have two each. The fifth seat is a tussle between Labor’s Karin MacDonald and the Democrats’ Jeanette Jolley. There was hardly any movement yesterday. Labor is probably favoured to take the seat.
In Ginninderra:
The Democrats have moved ahead slightly and Roslyn Dundas should get the fifth seat. Sitting Labor MLAs Jon Stanhope and Wayne Berry and sitting Liberals Bill Stefaniak and Harold Hird (or perhaps Vicki Dunne or Ilona Fraser) are likely to be returned. Mr Hird is likely to pick up most of the over-quota after Mr Stefaniak is elected.