Sunday, 9:15am: Mark Coulton has been re-elected as the Federal Member for Parkes for his third term, after securing 63.38 per cent of first preference votes.
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![Helping with the barbecue at the Girl Guides hall in West Dubbo were guides Indiana Cleary, Kyla and Breanna Turner while Natasha Wheeler [rear] helped with Girl Guides biscuits. Manning the barbecue [back] were Guy Turner and Andy Swinn.](/images/transform/v1/resize/frm/storypad-XwKRmnWP8TxCkzKg2pkKhT/50d311e8-8f56-4e56-8570-718fa231d003.JPG/w576_h298_fmax.webp "Helping with the barbecue at the Girl Guides hall in West Dubbo were guides Indiana Cleary, Kyla and Breanna Turner while Natasha Wheeler [rear] helped with Girl Guides biscuits. Manning the barbecue [back] were Guy Turner and Andy Swinn.")
With a total of 82,167 first preference votes counted, The Nationals candidate has recorded 49,049 votes and a swing of 4.15 per cent.
Country Labor's Brendan Byron secured 21.37 per cent of the vote, recording a total of 16,537 votes and a swing of 0.11 swing.
Continuing in order of votes are:
-The Palmer United Party’s Neil Gorman received 7.64 per cent of votes (5,909) and a swing of 7.64.
- The Greens’ Matt Parmeter received 5.03 per cent of votes (3,896) and a swing -0.57
- The Christian Democratic Party’s Michelle Ryan has received 2.59 per cent of votes (2,002) with a 2.9 per cent swing.
9:15pm: This concludes our rolling coverage for the seat of Parkes during the 2013 election.
Mark Coulton looks set to be elected as the Federal Member for Parkes for his third term, after securing 62.33 per cent of first preference votes.
With 64.64 per cent of first preference votes counted, The Nationals candidate has recorded 38,651 votes and a swing of 4.44 per cent.
Country Labor's Brendan Byron has secured 22.31 per cent of the vote, recording a total of 13, 835 votes and a swing of 0.09 swing.
Continuing in order of votes are:
-The Palmer United Party’s Neil Gorman has received 7.68 per cent of votes (4,765) and a swing of 7.68.
- The Greens’ Matt Parmeter has received 5.18 per cent of votes (3,213) and a swing -0.29
- The Christian Democratic Party’s Michelle Ryan has received 2.50 per cent of votes (1,550) with a 2.5 per cent swing.
9pm: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is shortly expected to concede that Labor has lost the federal election from Brisbane.
8:30pm: Mark Coulton looks set to claim the seat of Parkes for the third time after securing 62.18 per cent of the vote.
With 58.93 per cent of first preference votes counted, Mr Coulton has recorded 35,145 votes.
Country Labor's Brendan Byron has secured 22.28 per cent of the vote, recording a total of 12,594 votes.
8:10pm: Country Labor's Brendan Byron is trailing behind The Nationals' candidate Mark Coulton in the voting.
With 55.24 per cent of the votes now counted Mr Coulton has received 62.35 per cent of the votes around the electorate, while Mr Byron has recorded 22.17 per cent.
7:40pm: The Nationals' Mark Coulton now holds 62.13 per cent of the vote for the Parkes electorate.
Mr Coulton has recorded 24,593 votes, while County Labor's Brendan Byron has recorded 8,779 votes (22.13 per cent).
At this stage 41.24 per cent of the votes have been counted.
7:15pm: With counting just over an hour in, The Nationals’ Mark Coulton is in the lead having recorded 11,592 vote (63.33 per cent). He is followed by County Labor candidate Brendan Byron who has recorded 3878 votes (21.19 per cent).
Meanwhile the Palmer United Party’s Neil Gorman has recorded 1,446 (7.90 per cent) of the vote and The Greens Candidate Matt Parmeter has recorded 1,009 votes (5.51 per cent).
Michelle Ryan of the Christian Democratic Party has recorded 423 votes ( 2.05 per cent).
7:00pm: We have now published a live map showing electorate-by-electorate results.
6:45pm: The Roy Morgan - Channel 10 6pm exit poll has put the Coalition ahead of Labor, 43.5 per cent to 33.0 per cent.
The Greens are sitting at 11.0 per cent and the Palmer United Party is at 5.0 per cent.
The 6pm poll was taken from a sample of 5,987 Australian voters.
6:15pm: The Palmer United Party has reportedly paid two English backpackers $100 to work at a polling booth in the Parkes electorate.
The backpackers who worked at Buninyoung Public School in Dubbo from 8.00am to 3.00pm today, admitted to other booth workers that they were being paid to hand out How to Vote cards.
PUP has paid English packpackers on booths in Dubbo $100cash 8to3 that's supporting Aust workers http://t.co/xsBKvaWu0E
— troygrant (@troygrant) September 7, 2013
6:00pm: The polls have now closed.
5:42pm: The Roy Morgan - Channel 10 5pm exit poll has put the Coalition ahead of Labor, 43.0 per cent to 33.5 per cent.
The Greens are sitting at 11 per cent and the Palmer United Party is at five per cent.
The 5pm poll has been taken from a sample of 4,911 Australian voters.
5:15pm: While the majority of voters have gone to the polls today, thousands of voters across the Parkes electorate decided to pre-poll for this year's federal election.
By the end of Wednesday, a total of 13,230 votes had been lodged in the Parkes electorate.
The number of pre-poll votes received surpassed the total pre-poll votes lodged locally in the 2010 election.
4:45pm: Voters have turned out in droves at polling stations across regional Australia, as the final hours of the 2013 federal election tick away.
4:30pm: The Roy Morgan - Channel 10 4pm exit poll has put the Coalition ahead of Labor, 42.5 per cent to 33.5 per cent.
The poll has been taken from a sample of 4,096 Australian voters.
4:00pm: Voters across the region have been blessed with a beautiful day to head to the polls. Temperatures reached up to 30 degrees in Dubbo, 29 in Wellington, 28 in Mudgee and 29 in Moree.
While in Lightning Ridge and Nyngan the mercury has hit up to 32 degrees and in Narromine it has reached 30 degrees.
3:30pm: With the polls only open for another two and half hours, there isn't long left for you to make your vote count. In the 2010 Federal election there was a 94.32 per cent voter turnout in the Parkes electorate, with 89,735 formal votes and 4,745 informal votes. Make sure you make your vote count this federal election.
3:10pm: Sausage sizzles and cake stalls go hand in hand with the federal election. Voters right across the region have enjoyed a bite to eat after casting their vote. Why not #shareasnag with your family and friends by retweeting the tweet below.
Sausage sizzles and election day go hand in hand. Share your election day snag with friends #shareasnag #auspol pic.twitter.com/vYAsRMyHio
— NSW Central West (@FairfaxNSWwest) September 7, 2013
2:30pm: The seat of Parkes has five candidates contesting this election.
In order of the ballot paper they are:
- Mark Coulton (The Nationals)
- Matt Parmeter (The Greens)
- Neil Gorman (Palmer United Party)
- Michelle Ryan (Christian Democratic Party)
- Brendan Byron (Country Labor)
Earlier in the campaign we gave each candidate the opportunity to tell you why you should vote for them at the polling booths.Click here to see what they had to say.
2:00pm: Welcome to our rolling coverage of the federal election. Check back here during the afternoon and night to see photos from polling booths across the electorate and regular updates on the day's events.
