EMMA Kealy has secured more than two thirds of first-preference votes for a resounding win in the seat of Lowan.
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The Nationals incumbent will retain the seat after polling strongly against Labor’s Maurice Billi, Independent Barry Shea, the Greens’ Richard Lane and the Victorian Socialists’ Trevor Grenfell in Saturday’s state election.
Ms Kealy has so far secured more than 74 per cent of the vote after preferences, with Mr Billi holding 25.8 per cent for Labor.
With about 84 per cent of the Lowan count completed, Mr Billi has 19.56 per cent of first-preference votes, while Mr Shea has 6.52 per cent.
Mr Lane is holding 4.91 per cent and Mr Grenfell has 1.13 per cent.
So far, Ms Kealy has secured about 2300 votes more than than she did in the 2014 state election.
That year, her percentage of first-preferences votes stood at 54 per cent.
Ms Kealy said she looked forward to continuing to represent the electorate and fighting for a better deal.
“I've worked very hard with an amazing team around me and we've done so much work to ensure the people of Lowan have their voices heard and are well supported,” she said.
“We took a really good plan to the election and the people of Lowan voted for that, and it's my job over the next four years to hold Labor to account.
“I thank the voters for putting their faith in me. I'll fight for a better deal for Lowan every single minute."
Ms Kealy said she would work hard to ensure commitments the Nationals made during the election campaign were not lost.
“We made some amazing commitments when it came to returning passenger rail to the region,” she said.
“Labor has no plan for passenger rail in western Victoria – that will be something I continue to fight on.
“We also had a $1-billion Road Fix Blitz package that would have made a huge difference to get our roads up to standard to basically make them car-worthy, and some other really great commitments around the electorate that would really change the landscape of the seat of Lowan.
“The people of Lowan have voted for those, and it’s Labor’s job – if they're going to be a government for the whole of the state – to help deliver on them.”
Ms Kealy thanked the staff and volunteers who worked with her during her first term.
“My amazing staff made sure anyone who contacted us had a response. We pursued their issues and listened to their concerns,” she said.
“The number of volunteers we had on polling day and during pre-polling was just amazing.”
While Labor and Mr Billi picked up about a per cent more first-preference votes in this year’s election compared with 2014, the Greens’ vote fell by about 3.6 per cent.
One of the major differences between this year’s election result and 2014 is the percentage of votes that went to independent candidates and other parties outside the Coalition, Labor and the Greens.
In both elections, there were five candidates for Lowan.
In 2014, independent Katrina Rainsford and the Australian Country Alliance’s Steve Price accounted for about 19 per cent of the vote combined.
On Saturday, Independent Barry Shea and Victorian Socialists candidate Trevor Grenfell collectively secured 7.65 per cent of voters.
More than 36,000 people voted in Lowan this year, about 84 per cent of the electorate’s total enrollment.
Ms Kealy was one of six Nationals members to claim seats in Saturday’s election, with counterparts in Euroa, Gippsland East, Gippsland South, Ovens Valley and Murray Plains, which is held by Nationals leader Peter Walsh.
Overall, the Liberal-Nationals Coalition’s number of seats in parliament declined, with Labor picking up key Liberal seats and reaping a swing of 5.3 per cent.
