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The federal election returned Canberra's two lower house representatives Gai Brodtmann and Andrew Leigh with a comfortable majority, but not all suburbs gave a glowing endorsement. Australian Electoral Commission data points to a strengthening Greens vote in the inner northern suburbs of Ainslie, Braddon, Turner, Watson, City and Lyneham. The strong performance in Canberra's so-called "lentil-belt" pleased ACT Greens MLA Shane Rattenbury, who hoped the trend continued at the territory election in 2016. AEC data uploaded on Monday afternoon showed the Greens polled higher than the Liberals on primary votes at eight booths in Fenner. "We are encouraged by these results we seem to have an average swing to us of 1.56 percent on the numbers at the moment," Mr Rattenbury said. "On these numbers, we have a prospect of gaining a seat in each of the five ACT seats in October and we will be launching our campaign reinvigorated by these results." Dr Leigh, who won a third term in office and has a safe margin of 12.5 per cent, received swings of up to 4 per cent in Gungahlin including Melba, Ngunnawal, Latham, Florey and Downer. "The swing to Labor was fairly uniform across Fenner, reflecting the fact that across Canberra's northside, voters were angry about the Liberals' decimation of the public service," Dr Leigh said. "Labor's positive policies on schools, healthcare and the NBN particularly resonated in Gungahiln, which is the fastest growing part of the electorate." In Fenner, the Liberals returned a majority of primary votes at booths in Forde and Nicholls, where candidate Robert Gunning secured small swings less than 0.5 per cent. Speaking shortly before the election, Liberal senator Zed Seselja said he was confident the swing to Labor in the lower house would be smaller than the 3.42 per cent national swing. "Certainly I've seen in places like O'Connor, I think, over time, a strengthening of the Liberal vote," he told Sky News. "It traditionally has not been a strong area for us but I see some opportunity for improvement." Mr Seselja said the vote would, as always, be decided in the outer suburbs in Gungahiln and parts of Belconnen. These suburbs will also be targeted by ACT politicians during the territory campaign. On Monday afternoon, AEC figures showed an average swing of 1.7 per cent against Mr Gunning and up to 4.4 per cent in the Belconnen suburb of Latham. In the southern seat of Canberra, Ms Brodtmann returned a comfortable victory although a majority of voters in Red Hill, Yarralumla, Deakin, Deakin, Griffith, Barton, Campbell, Fadden and Tharwa preferenced Liberal candidate Jessica Adelan-Langford. This endorsement for Ms Adelan-Langford did little to hurt Ms Brodtmann's performance with her majority growing to a safe 7.5 per cent with a 0.8 per cent swing as of Monday afternoon Ms Brodtmann, who will serve a third term in Parliament, received swings of between 4 and 6 per cent in Chisholm, Farrer, Gowrie, Mason and Theodore on primary vote. On Sunday, Ms Brodtmann vowed to treat her seat as marginal and denied claims she had taken it for granted in the past. "I have always treated this seat as if it was a marginal seat. We've lost Canberra in the past ... but I've always worked and advocated as if it was a marginal seat," she said. Graphics: Alexandra Back

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