ANNOUNCED: Bert van Manen declared victory of the seat of Forde today. Supplied: David Ephraim
While Labor candidate Des Hardman has not yet formally conceded defeat to Bert van Manen, the LNP incumbent of Forde, today announced his victory.
With today’s count by the Australian Electoral Commission putting him 1,058 votes ahead of the Labor candidate on two party preferred, Mr van Manen confidently declared his victory outside the Forde electorate office this afternoon.
He said he was very humbled to win another term.
“I would like to thank my family, volunteers, my team and everyone who voted for me,” he said.
“It was a close race and a narrow victory and I need to continue working hard over the next three years for my community.”
The AEC officially cut off the collection and counting of postal votes today.
