Australia’s Closest Electoral Races

With last-minute housing market policies announced and candidates taking frantic trips to Western Australia, the national elections have reached the home stretch. Ahead of Saturday’s opening of the polls, more than a few incumbents are wary of their seats.

Tight races between the Coalition government and the opposition Labor party are taking place in urban and suburban areas mostly, with Brisbane counting three close calls in its Forde, Logman and Griffith districts and Sydney also in for some nail biting in Lindsay, Banks and Robertson on the Central Coast.

The tightest races are taking place in Queensland, though. Topping the list is the Townsville district of Herbert, where the margin is a paper-thin 0.02 percent in favor of Labor. Second up are Capricornia in central Queensland and Brisbane district Forde, which are leaning 0.6 percent towards the LNP, according to ABC News.

Other districts might not have had the smallest margins in the last elections, but strong challengers or weakening MPs could still cause the district to swing. Former prime minister Tony Abbott is being challenged by Winter Olympic skiing medalist and independent candidate Zali Steggall, who has been getting ahead on a climate change platform in the northern beaches Sydney seat of Warringah.

More unexpected district swings could happen elsewhere. The Liberal party has been targeting Hobart district Braddon, which had a margin of 1.7 percent for Labor, while Labor in turn tried to sway voters in Adelaide’s Boothby with the help of an activist group, trying to overcome a 2.7 percent margin.