The Electoral Commission of Queensland says following the close of nominations and the completion of the ballot paper order draw, candidates for the 2020 State general election can be formally announced.

Electoral Commissioner Pat Vidgen said there are 597 candidates across Queensland’s 93 electorates competing for Queenslanders’ votes in 2020.

“This year’s State general election sees 144 more candidates than in 2017, where 453 ran for parliament.

“A vibrant democracy needs a strong contest of ideas and it’s exciting to see a record-breaking 12 registered political parties endorsing candidates, as well as a large cohort of non-endorsed candidates, all throwing their hat into the political ring to vie for the opportunity to represent their communities in State Parliament.

“Queenslanders can now find the candidates running in their electorate via the ECQ’s 2020 State general election webpage.”

South Brisbane

In South Brisbane there are seven candidates including from Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party and Pauline Hanson’s One Nation. John Jiggens represents the Legalise Cannabis Queensland Party, and John Meyer, the controversial  disendorsed Greens candidate for Clayfield, is standing as what he terms an Ethical Green Independent.

 

Image from ABC website. Candidates listed in the order on the ballot paper.

Voting

Electoral Commissioner said the printing of ballot papers will now begin following the ballot paper order draw, and that also means postal votes will start to go out to electors who have applied for them.

“Postal votes will start being sent from tomorrow, 12 October, but due to the large number of applications to date, ballot material will be sent progressively.

“Once an elector receives their envelope, we urge them act immediately and vote, sign, witness and send their envelope back to the ECQ.

“For postal votes to be included in the count they must be back to the ECQ by 10 November at the very latest, so getting them in the mail sooner, is better,” he said.

Counting Votes

Mr Vidgen said the large number of candidates in this election will also have an impact on the time taken to count and there may be a more complex and time-consuming distribution of preferences, especially where there is a large number of candidates contesting the seat.

A full list of all candidates is available on the ECQ website in ballot paper order HERE.

Candidate Forums

There will be no shortage of opportunities to quiz candidates with forums planned by West End Community Association and by Kurilpa Futures. The Courier Mail also plans to hold a forum for South Brisbane candidates.

For profiles of the major party candidates for South Brisbane and other electorate news see HERE.