Counting is resuming for the New South Wales state election today, with up to 14 seats still in doubt.
This comes after NSW Labor was returned to power for the first time in 12 years on Saturday night, with Chris Minns MP as the new state Premier.
According to ABC News, NSW Labor will hold at least 47 seats in the 93-member lower house, picking up at least nine seats from the Coalition. Labor’s gains included key seats in Western Sydney, such as Parramatta and Penrith.
This year, there were also at least nine Australians of Greek heritage contesting the state election across all political parties. At least three have already claimed victory.
Member for Canterbury, Sophie Cotsis MP, retained her seat in the state election with 74.5 percent of the vote to Liberal candidate Nemr Boumansour.
“Thank you to the amazing people of Canterbury for re-electing me,” Ms Cotsis said on Facebook alongside a video of volunteers chanting ‘Labor, Labor’ at the Mytilenian House in Canterbury.
Ms Cotsis held her election night function at the Mytilenian House surrounded by a number of local Greek and non-Greek supporters.
The President of the Mytilenian Brotherhood of Sydney & NSW, Peter Psomas, was present at the event and told The Greek Herald on the night he was proud of her victory.
“We are very proud of Sophie as a fellow Mytilenian and our local MP for Canterbury. It was a privilege for us to host her post election function with the local residents, many with mixed multicultural backgrounds,” Mr Psomas said.
Elsewhere, the Member for Rockdale, Steve Kamper MP, also retained his seat with 65.7 percent of the vote to the Liberal Party’s Muhammad Rana.
Tears welled in Mr Kamper’s eyes on Saturday night as he celebrated his own victory and that of Mr Minns.
“The way he [Minns] has conducted himself throughout the whole campaign, actually from the time he was leader, people could see [he was] the man they want leading the state,” Mr Kamper said from Labor HQ on Saturday.
Courtney Houssos MLC also led the Labor Legislative Council team to re-election and sealed a second eight-year team in the Upper House.
On Facebook, Ms Houssos thanked the public and volunteers for their support throughout the election campaign.
“Our movement is an amazing force for change, and I’ll never take the privilege to serve as your Labor representative for granted,” Ms Houssos wrote.
The seat of Miranda, which has been held by Eleni Petinos MP since 2015, remains in doubt with ABC News predicting the Labor Party’s Simon Earle is ahead of Ms Petinos with 50.3 percent of the vote.
