Labor wins Victorian election.

Victoria Labor wins with reduced majority
Saturday Nov 25, 2006, 23:42 AEDT

Labor has won power for a third term in Victoria in a poll that reflected voter disenchantment with the major parties and left the state's Liberals at an all-time low.

Despite becoming only the second Victorian Labor government in 150 years to win a third term, the result wasn't a total success for the ALP.

Labor's primary vote fell by around 3.5 per cent, all of it going to the Family First party in its first Victorian election.

The Liberals also received a jolt, recording their lowest ever primary vote, despite picking up at least three seats.

The Liberal primary vote had dropped by 0.7 per cent to 33.8 per cent late on Saturday.

Mr Bracks is likely to have a majority of 22 seats in the new parliament, down from 36.

But he is set to become Labor's longest serving Victorian premier, surpassing John Cain Jr's 3,047 days in office.

Mr Bracks dedicated his third election victory to the state's working families.

"This victory belongs to working families right around Victoria. Thank you very much," Mr Bracks said.

He said Victorian families wanted better schools, better health care, a cleaner environment and secure water supplies.

"Families want a fair go in the workplace as well," he said.

"Their trust will not be misplaced.

"We'll govern for everyone no matter how they voted in this election.

"We will commit to the things we said we would do during this campaign."

In his victory speech, Mr Bracks repeated campaign promises that every public school in the state would be rebuilt or modernised, that Labor would build Australia's largest water recycling plant, would continue to cut greenhouse emissions and would keep Victoria nuclear free.

The Premier also took the opportunity in his speech to take a swipe at the Federal Government's controversial workplace legislation, warning Canberra to stop attacking Victorian workers with "extreme industrial relations laws".

Opposition Leader Ted Baillieu remained upbeat in defeat, painting the swing against the Victorian government as a sign of a rejuvenated Liberal party.

Mr Baillieu also chose to overlook the modest 0.7 per cent drop in the Liberals' primary vote, as he thanked supporters, telling them they had "turned the tide".

"To each and every member of the party, thank you, keep the faith," he told supporters.

"We are on the road again and we have much to do.

"For those who haven't got across the line, don't be deterred - there is a very, very bright future for you, there is a bright future for the Liberal Party.

"We have turned the tide in this state and we are on the way back."

The Liberals performed best in the seats they already held, improving their position in the marginal electorates of Nepean, Bass, South West Coast and Doncaster.

They also picked up Labor's most marginal seat of Evelyn and the neighbouring north-east suburban seat of Bayswater along with Narracan in the Latrobe Valley.

One of the biggest surprises came in the north-western seat of Mildura where independent Russell Savage held an 18 per cent margin.

In one the biggest swings away from a sitting candidate, the Nationals Peter Crisp achieved a swing of as much as 25 per cent.

The result represented a resurgence for the Liberals' former coalition partner, The Nationals.

The party's leader, Peter Ryan, described it as "a great result for country Victoria".

"We have won a seat from an independent - an apparently impossible dream on behalf of The Nationals, but we've done it," he said.

"As best we can see it, we've retained those seven seats that we held before, we've won an extra one at least and defeated an independent to do it and we're certainly in the mix in the seat of Morwell."

In contrast to Mr Baillieu's optimism was the sombre mood of his predecessor as Liberal leader, Robert Doyle, who warned that the party may have to wait another two terms before it regained power.

Mr Doyle, who stood aside as leader in May, said he was disappointed with the Liberals' performance.

"That is not the result that I was hoping for tonight and it does have real ramifications for how we conduct ourselves and the work that we do over the next four years," he said on ABC TV.

"I'm not particularly happy about the results that I see there. I can tell you, I didn't get out so we could do worse or to be at about the same sort of level."

Mr Doyle said Liberal Party disunity over the past four years had cost them the chance of government.

With counting almost complete for the night, Family First had won 4.28 per cent of the primary vote in its first election, The Greens 9.65 per cent and The Nationals 5.33 per cent.

For the Greens, the poll also had some negatives, despite the likelihood of the party winning its first Victorian seats.

The party's primary vote was down more than one per cent on its 2002 performance.

Greens candidate Greg Barber is expected to secure an Upper House seat.

AAP 2006

Source : http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=149886