Labor candidate Danny Pearson has been re-elected to represent the seat of Essendon.
The MVBlog doesn’t always agree with Mr Pearson’s position on issues, but congratulates him on his win and hopes for increased local representation in the coming four years.
With almost 70% of the Essendon vote counted, Mr Pearson increased his primary vote by 5.6%.
The swings across booths varied widely with substantial increases in Strathmore, Flemington and Ascot Vale, and much smaller margins in Buckley Park, and some booths in Essendon and Moonee Ponds.
The changes in Mr Pearson’s primary vote in each booth from 2014 to 2018 can be viewed below.
The location of all booths is no longer available on the VEC website. Not all early votes have been counted. The percentages are all for primary (first preference) votes as the full distributions of two-party-preferred votes are not yet available.
Only 70 percent of the vote has been counted.
| Essendon booths | Primary ’14 % | Primary ’18 % | Change % |
| Ascot Vale Central (St Mary’s) | 41.0 | 49.1 | 8.1 |
| Ascot Vale East (M’nong Church) | 42.6 | 47.7 | 5.1 |
| Ascot Vale West (Scouts Hall) | 36.7 | 53.7 | 17.0 |
| Buckley Park (BPSC) | 41.3 | 41.3 | -0.1 |
| Essendon (STT) | 37.9 | 40.3 | 2.4 |
| Essendon Nth (ENPS) | 38.2 | 45.0 | 6.8 |
| Essendon West | 39.3 | 43.1 | 3.8 |
| Flemington (MAC) | 44.8 | 53.4 | 8.6 |
| Glenbervie (EPS) | 40.6 | 47.7 | 7.1 |
| Moonee Ponds (LH) | 33.4 | 39.1 | 5.7 |
| M’ Ponds Central (MPPS) | 47.3 | 49.4 | 2.1 |
| Moonee Ponds West (MPWPS) | 47.0 | 56.0 | 9.1 |
| Newmarket (Wingate) | 51.0 | 59.9 | 8.9 |
| Strathmore (SSC) | 36.7 | 48.5 | 11.9 |
| Strathmore Nth (SNSC) | 45.9 | 68.9 | 23.0 |
| Postal | 43.8 | 43.4 | -0.4 |
| Early | 39.1 | 42.8 | 3.7 |
| Other | 34.5 | 44.5 | 10.0 |
| 40.9 | 46.5 | 5.6 |
In line with the state-wide vote, the Liberal first preference vote collapsed in Essendon – down from 35.9% to 28.6%.
The Greens primary vote also decreased from 18% to 15.3% – also in line with state-wide trends.
Richard Lawrence’s first preference vote increased marginally from 3.4% to 4.7% and 5% of the vote went to the DLP and other independent.
The informal vote was up half a percent to 4.5%.
Interestingly, the Liberal early first prefeence vote was 33.5% (of those counted). The Liberal vote on polling day dropped to 25%.
The Greens early primary vote was 13% (of votes counted) but increased to 17% on polling day.
Niddrie
Comparing the primary vote per booth in Niddrie is not quite as useful as in 2014 there were eight candidates, six of whom collectively gained 16% of the vote. In 2018, there were only four candidates in Niddrie and the two lower candidates gained 10% of the vote.
It’s possibly more useful to look at the gain to Labor in the 2PP – two party preferred – per booth.
| 2PP 2014 | 2PP 2018 | Change | |
| Aberfeldie | 54.1% | 61.8% | 7.7% |
| Airport West | 66.3% | 69.7% | 3.4% |
| Avondale Heights | 67.5% | 68.8% | 1.3% |
| Avondale Heights Central | 61.2% | 64.4% | 3.2% |
| Avondale Heights North | 61.5% | 67.0% | 5.6% |
| Buckley Park | 51.5% | 60.4% | 8.9% |
| Calder Rise | 41.8% | 56.0% | 14.1% |
| Essendon North | 55.8% | 68.8% | 13.1% |
| Essendon West | 49.3% | 52.4% | 3.1% |
| Keilor | 43.9% | 54.2% | 10.3% |
| Keilor East | 62.4% | 70.5% | 8.1% |
| Keilor Heights | 59.0% | 64.0% | 5.1% |
| Keilor Park | 60.9% | 62.1% | 1.3% |
| Keilor South | 56.1% | 60.2% | 4.1% |
| Niddrie | 61.3% | 62.4% | 1.1% |
| Niddrie Central | 54.4% | 66.9% | 12.4% |
| Absent | 60.1% | 62.9% | 2.9% |
| Early Vote | 59.2% | 61.8% | 2.6% |
| Postal Vote | 57.2% | 57.7% | 0.5% |
| 57.7% | 62.6% | 4.9% |
For completeness, here’s the change in primary vote at each booth:
| Primary ’14 | Primary ’18 | Change | |
| Aberfeldie | 42.2% | 51.7% | 9.5% |
| Airport West | 56.9% | 62.1% | 5.2% |
| Avondale Heights | 51.4% | 61.1% | 9.7% |
| Avondale Heights Central | 46.0% | 58.4% | 12.4% |
| Avondale Heights North | 48.8% | 65.7% | 16.9% |
| Buckley Park | 42.0% | 51.8% | 9.8% |
| Calder Rise | 34.0% | 49.3% | 15.3% |
| Essendon North | 41.1% | 57.8% | 16.7% |
| Essendon West | 36.5% | 43.3% | 6.8% |
| Keilor | 33.9% | 46.5% | 12.6% |
| Keilor East | 49.5% | 64.6% | 15.1% |
| Keilor Heights | 48.5% | 56.4% | 7.9% |
| Keilor Park | 50.1% | 56.2% | 6.0% |
| Keilor South | 41.6% | 53.9% | 12.2% |
| Niddrie | 50.6% | 56.2% | 5.6% |
| Niddrie Central | 44.2% | 55.3% | 11.1% |
| Absent | 40.4% | 51.5% | 11.1% |
| Early Vote | 47.7% | 54.4% | 6.7% |
| Postal Vote | 48.9% | 51.8% | 2.8% |
| 46.2% | 56.3% | 10.1% |
Moonee Valley Blog 