Here’s what happened in the Victorian election

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It was a poor result for the Liberal Party, but a good night for the Greens and the Nationals. Here's what you need to know.
Here's what happened in the Victorian election

Victoria’s state election has seen Labor returned for a third term in office under Premier Daniel Andrews. Andrews is now on track to become Victoria’s longest-serving Labor Premier.

It was a poor result for the Liberal Party, but a good night for the Greens and the Nationals. Here’s what you need to know.

Labor wins

Labor began the night with 55 seats out of 88, a comfortable majority. There is some counting left, but it looks likely to have a similar number again.

Amid a Labor win, there were some notable voting shifts. Labor picked up support in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, but had a significant drop in support in the west. It also lost ground to the Greens in inner city Melbourne.

In his victory speech, Andrews quoted advice given to him by former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating: “Leadership isn’t about doing what’s popular. Leadership is about doing what’s right.”

Andrews acknowledged the pandemic had been “very challenging” for Victoria, but said “as a community, we were not as some would say divided, we were instead united… in our faith and care for and in each other… hope always defeats hate.”

Liberals loses

The Liberal Party has so far won 15 seats, but looks set to pick up a few more as counting continues. The National Party, its partner in the Coalition, is set to improve from 6 seats to 9 seats.

The Liberals went into the election with 21 seats.

In his concession speech, Opposition Leader Matthew Guy said it was a “disappointing night” but said there were some “truly tremendous swings” towards the party in Melbourne’s north and west.

“I hope that the Labor Party will heed that message and will have a change in style, a change in attitude, an approach focused more on uniting Victorians,” Guy said. “We respect the right of Victorians to vote how they vote… we’ve got a lot of work to do, we know that. But we also know that our time in the sun will come again.”

Greens gain

The Greens will have increased representation in the next Parliament after picking up votes across the state. The minor party is set to win at least one more seat in inner Melbourne, taking its tally to four. It is close in two other seats.

Speaking last night, Greens Leader Samantha Ratnam declared a “Greenslide”.

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