Media release
The federal leader of the Palmer United Party, Clive Palmer, has thanked the voters of Fairfax after finally being declared the winner of the Sunshine Coast seat by the Australian Electoral Commission by 53 votes.
After several weeks spent recounting around 90,000 ballot papers, Mr Palmer has secured a famous win and will now take his seat in Canberra when parliament reconvenes towards mid-November.
Mr Palmer, who won the original count by seven votes, increased his margin of victory to 53 votes over his LNP rival Ted O’Brien.
“I am thrilled by the result and humbled by the responsibility of representing the people of Fairfax in federal parliament,” Mr Palmer said.
“I’d like to thank Ted O’Brien and all the other candidates. I wish Ted and his family all the best for the future.
“I would also like to thank the AEC staff on the Sunshine Coast who had a very difficult job and had a great deal of pressure on them from the AEC apparatchik from Canberra and Brisbane.”
ENDS