Senate hopeful Fiona Patten remains in the running to secure Victoria’s final seat for Legalise Cannabis in what has become a three-party race with Labor and One Nation.
While Labor remains favourite to take the sixth seat, Patten said her prospects of pulling off a shock victory have strengthened in recent days.
But she said it will come to down to a “lottery” when they “push the button” on preference allocations.
Patten told Cannabiz the voting “is trending upwards for us and downwards for Labor”.
“As the second preferences start getting counted, they need to go to me at a much higher rate than they go to Labor, and that is quite likely,” she said. “If someone hasn’t voted for Labor as the first preference and supported a smaller party, they are unlikely to have made them their second preference.”
Before the election, Labor urged its supporters to back Legalise Cannabis ahead of any other party, excluding its own.
A further advantage for Patten could be the broad appeal of the party’s polices, with voters on the left and right potentially selecting it as their second choice.
“A lot of pundits see us on the progressive side of politics. That might be the case for some of our MPs, but not necessarily among voters,” she said. “It wouldn’t be a surprise to see a Trumpet of Patriot voter or a Greens voter make us their second preference. We straddle both sides of politics and that may work in our favour.”
However, Patten was under no illusion that it remains a guessing game.
“Really, there is no way of knowing how those preferences are going to flow until they press the button. At the end of the day, it’s a lottery.”
The final result could be known by the end of the week.