2026 Nightcliff By-election: 13 day count period continues

The check count (fresh scrutiny) of all ballot papers counted on election night was conducted yesterday at the Darwin scrutiny centre, located in the NT Electoral Commission office. No new ballot papers were added to the count. View updated election results.

Over the next 11 days, there remains the potential for a further 358 votes to be added to the count. This includes 262 postal votes still to be returned which must be received by the NTEC by 12pm 20 March to be included in the count. 19 postal votes have been kept back to maintain the secrecy of the vote and will be added to the next postal vote count, and 77 declaration votes may be included in the count following a verification process.

A candidate is elected where they receive more than 50% of the formal first preference votes. For the Nightcliff By-election, as no candidate has achieved this, a distribution of preferences is required to determine the candidate elected.

A full distribution of preferences will take place following the deadline to receive postal votes and after the final postal vote count.

An interim distribution of preferences (2 candidate preferred or 'TCP' count) was conducted by the NTEC to gain an indication of the candidate most likely to be elected. Under the Electoral Act 2004, this interim distribution has no effect for declaring the results of the election. The TCP margin based on current votes counted is 158.

Whilst it is common practice, and not inappropriate for political commentators to make statements about election outcomes based on expertise, voting trends and data analytics, the NTEC is responsible for conducting elections in accordance with the Electoral Act 2004 (NT).

The NTEC can declare a candidate elected for a division, if satisfied any uncounted ballot papers, cannot, affect the outcome of the scrutiny. As the number of outstanding ballot papers which may be returned and admitted to count is greater than the current margin, the NTEC is unable to determine the election result at this time.

The final count of postal votes and distribution of preferences will take place after 12pm Friday 20 March. The declaration of election results is scheduled for Monday 23 March.

Find out about the scrutiny period and count method PDF (462.4 KB).

Additional information

Find out about the 2026 Nightcliff By-election, or call 1800 698 683.