General Election 18: Who is where and what to expect

The opening of campaigning for the 18th General Election is upon us and The Independent will be reporting on who is running in which electorate, and how we expect each electorate to go.

Up first: Brisbane. So far, we can only report for 2 candidates Superpacman04 from the Liberals and former Brisbane member Zak6858 from Australian Democrats. This will certainly be a seat to watch. Liberals have won this seat in the past, however Zak won it as an Independent, before joining AD. We're calling this for the Liberals currently though.

Next up: Canberra. The candidates we know are lily-irl from the Social Democrats and Kisakuwu from the Liberals. This seat for most of the year has been held by the SDP, with the exception for a short period where it was held by the Liberals. Kisakuwu has been defeated multiple times, including in Mayo last election. Lily-irl was a Senator some time ago, however they have been defeated in elections multiple times before also.
We project Canberra to go towards the SDP and lily-irl given the party's history in the electorate.

Capricornia: Incumbent ARichTeaBiscuit is confirmed as a candidate for the SDP, against newcomer Matris4565 from the Liberals. Given their incumbency and name recognition, we expect ARichTeaBiscuit to keep their seat.

Cowper: This electorate, if anything like the last election will be interesting. Incumbent mikiboss won by a mere 0.04% last election against the then Prime Minister. It has been confirmed mikiboss will be contesting the electorate for the SDP again, against Greejatus from the Liberals. Mikiboss has made himself known quite well throughout Parliament this term, and we expect regional NSW to keep him as their MP next term.

Cunningham: We don't know much about Cunningham yet, with incumbent stranger195 the only person to confirm their candidacy. We predict it to stay with him however.

Denison: Denison has had a shock change. Their incumbent dyljam recently joined the Social Democrats, and will be their candidate here. However he is up against the incumbent Leader of the Opposition, Griffonomics. Griffonomics has abandoned his former electorate of Cowper to run for Denison. Polling out of the electorate projects the Liberals and Griffonomics to win the electorate however we believe dyljam will be able to pull it back now that he is part of the Social Democrats. We're calling this electorate for the incumbent and the SDP at current.

Hotham: Independent Mad_Bear_O_Melbourne has returned to the political scene after quite a long time. He is up against Liberal candidate johnvosler. Hotham is held by Deladi0 from the Australian Democrats and it is unknown if he will be recontesting. Hotham at current, unless Deladi0 recontests, is expected to do towards the returning Independent MBOM.

Lingiari: Lingari is being contested by 2 candidates at current: Anacornda from the Country Labor Party and newcomer nmtts-. Anacornda was briefly an MP for Mayo, and they were a Senator for the Northern Territory before that. Having being able to make themselves known, we expect them to win the seat on Saturday.

Mayo: Mayo is being contested by former Senator and MP RMSteve from the Liberals. Newcomer cool-stan from the Country Labor Party is contesting the electorate too. Given the name recognition of Steve we will be calling the electorate for him.

Melbourne: Incumbent Neatsaucer from the SDP is up against newcomer buttsforpm. NeatSaucer is a strong campaigner and debater and as such the seat will remain with them most likely.

Moncrieff: Riley8583 from the Liberals, a man who can't make his mind up, is the incumbent here however his consistent defections throughout the term have most likely hurt his chances. He however is up against newcomer Afraid_Range from Country Labor. Moncrieff will be a seat to watch, as Riley is hurt by his defections, but he is up against a newcomer. We are currently declaring this seat to close to call.

Nicholls: At the time of writing, only EdenHopeStan has announced their candidacy, and as such no prediction will be made at this time.

Pearce: Incumbent MP and Prime Minister NGSpy is being contested by former Senator Umatbru. Umatbru hasn't been seen much recently, however the Prime Minister has been working hard in recent times. As such we expect NGSpy to hold his seat.

Robertson: Robertson is being contested by incumbent Jayden, Plupsnup from the Country Labor Party and newcomer SurfingNooty from the Liberals. Jayden has been representing Robertson for a lengthy amount of time, representing from multiple parties. Plupsnup has tried and failed in multiple elections however he seems to be stronger than ever so far. SurfingNooty, as a newcomer, will not be an issue this election. We currently predict Jayden to hold the seat, however it could flip to Country Labor, all it depends on is the campaign.

Sydney: Finally Sydney. Explosivo, former Deputy Prime Minister is contesting the electorate as an Independent against mrcri from the Liberals. Explosivo has made himself known throughout politics well over the past few months, as such we expect him to win the electorate.

Our final numbers currently are:
SDP: 6
LP: 3
CLP: 1
AD: 1
IND: 2
TCTC/No Prediction: 2

As such, we predict SDP and CLP to remain in government, with the confidence of at least 1 Independent.