Kapterian was initially declared the winner by a mere eight votes, marking one of the narrowest elections in Australian political history, before a full recount made Boele the first non-Liberal MP to hold the northern Sydney seat in its 75-year existence.
Kapterian this evening said the party would “go to the umpire” after careful consideration of the different counts.
“Over 118,000 ballots were cast by the constituents of Bradfield. The original count showed an 8-vote lead in my favor, while the recount showed a 26-vote lead for Ms. Boele,” she expressed in a statement shared on social media.
“Today’s decision is taken to ensure the intentions of the voters of Bradfield are accurately reflected in the final count.”
Kapterian emphasized there was “no doubt regarding the integrity of our electoral system” and that the process had “only strengthened my trust in Australia’s democratic institutions”.
She said the challenge, expected to be presented to the Court of Disputed Returns tomorrow, would “provide collective confidence that the final result reflects the true wishes of the voters in Bradfield and remove any remaining doubt”.
“In this instance a final arbiter does exactly what the AEC officials were doing throughout the count: they look at a ballot paper to determine matters like whether a number is legible, or whether a 5 is an 8 etc.Â
“We are requesting a targeted final examination of a small number of ‘line ball’ ballots that were reserved and considered by the Australian Electoral Officer during the counts.”
Boele was yet to comment tonight.
