“I think voting patterns have changed; people have voted in advance and people are now going to shopping malls instead of going to the polls at school…”

The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader Lia Finocchiaro spent most of the day in the sun in temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius, at a polling booth on the border of their constituencies in Palmerston.

According to Finocchiaro, many people kept their cards “close to their chest”.

Key issues raised during the election campaign include the environment, crime and the cost of living.

Electoral Commission data shows that 85,000 of the Territory’s more than 150,000 registered residents chose to cast their votes before Saturday.

The constituencies in the territories have just over 6,000 voters, meaning that the margins in the 25 seats are often very small.

NT Electoral Commissioner Kirsten Kelly said 61,000 people across the area had voted early. “So that’s about 1,000 more votes than in 2020, so early voting is quite popular with us,” Kelly said.

According to her, the turnout has dropped from 75 percent in 2020 to 65 percent in this election.

“So the number is lower, but we have more people on the voter roll,” she said.

MONKEY