latest-news, canning byelection, matt keogh, andrew hastie, Liberal, Labor, ALP, Liberal Democrat

Twelve candidates have nominated to contest the 2015 Canning federal by-election, the AEC announced today. The Liberal Democrats candidate Connor Whittle has drawn a spot on the ballot paper above Liberal Andrew Hastie, opening the possibility the candidates may be confused. In 2013, a candidate for the Liberal Democrats, who are unrelated to the Liberal Party, was elected to the Senate in New South Wales. Senior Liberals at the time attributed this to the Liberal Democrats drawing a higher position on the ballot paper, leading to confusion among voters as to which candidate stood for the Liberal Party. Liberal Democrat senator David Leyonhjelm conceded this week the party's position on the ballot paper would be crucial. "Over the past 40 years the DLP [Democratic Labour Party] has always done better when they're ahead of Labor [on the ballot paper] and the same sort of phenomenon will apply to us in Canning," he said. Other candidates for the byelection include those for the Pirate Party, the Australian Defence Veterans Party, Family First and the Australian Christians. The candidate nominations, in ballot paper order, that were officially declared at noon are: 1 SHARMA Vimal Kumar Palmer United Party 2 WHITTLE Connor Liberal Democrats 3 ALLEN Michelle Pirate Party 4 SMITH Greg Australian Defence Veterans Party 5 LOVE Katrina Animal Justice Party 6 HASTIE Andrew Liberal 7 VAN LIESHOUT Teresa Independent 8 KEOGH Matt Australian Labor Party 9 RAULAND Vanessa The Greens (WA) 10 McCOURT Jim Family First Party 11 VAN BURGEL Jamie Australian Christians 12 SMITH Angela Sustainable Population Party

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Canning byelection - twelve candidates to contest