One Nation has secured two lower house seats in South Australia as vote counting continues across the state.
The party, led by Pauline Hanson, has won seats in Hammond and Ngadjuri, with projections suggesting it could gain further representation.
The result marks the first time One Nation has secured lower house seats at a state election outside of Queensland.
Robert Roylance is set to become the member for Hammond, while Adelaide Plains Council deputy mayor David Paton is expected to take Ngadjuri from Labor’s Tony Piccolo, with preferences still being finalised by the Electoral Commission of South Australia.
The gains come as counting continues following the South Australian state election, with One Nation also targeting a stronger presence in the upper house.
South Australian One Nation leader Cory Bernardi said the party was still “in the hunt” in several seats as counting progressed.
“It looks like we’ll get three people elected,” he said.
“That, potentially with what’s left of the Liberal Party, and some independents, it may actually provide the balance of power for the Legislative Council.”
One Nation recorded about 21 per cent of first-preference votes in the lower house, while Labor won just under 40 per cent of the primary vote.
As of Saturday night, the Liberal Party was expected to pick up about eight lower house seats.
Bernardi also said some votes had been declared informal after voters “just put one in the One Nation box” when casting their ballots.
“Now, in some seats, that’s up to 5 per cent of the votes that are deemed informal,” he said.
“So, I think we will improve our status in some of these seats here going forward. I hope that’s the case. But, you know, if we are denied, representation in the South Australian parliament because of a cozy deal between Liberal and Labor, that says everything, it proves everything that I’ve said about the uni party politics in this state.”
Bernardi also said Labor would “prefer to keep the Liberal Party alive as controlled opposition”.
Nonetheless, he described the result as a major step forward for the party in the state.
“One Nation has learned many things from this campaign, and that means that we will be an even more formidable force at the next election,” he said.
Image: 9News
