Victoria Election 2022: Results, exit polls, Daniel Andrews, Matthew Guy – what you need to know

Polls have closed in Victoria after a chaotic election day that saw booths run out of ballots, voters come to blows and people get spammed with annoying campaign texts. 

In some key marginal seats, residents were bombarded with ‘Ditch Dan’ texts through Saturday telling them to vote against Premier Daniel Andrews‘s government – with the Labor leader hoping to secure a third term in office.

‘Don’t let him get away with it,’ a widely distributed Liberal text said. ‘The only way to get rid of Daniel Andrews is to vote Liberal today.’

Labor has also sent its own texts to residents encouraging them to vote against Opposition leader Matthew Guy. 

Meanwhile, some problems have popped at polling booths. 

In the critical marginal seat of Caulfield, in Melbourne’s south-east, one woman revealed that the Victorian Electoral Commission had no ballot papers for the entire electorate.

Another voter in Ovens Valley reported similar issues, with the VEC saying it was aware of the issues and had provided additional ballots. 

Victorian voters have been bombarded with texts by both political parties at the last minute as polling draws to a close in the state election

Meanwhile, terrifying footage captured the moment two voters wrestled with each other in front of horrified residents at a polling station in Victoria.

The pair grappled on the grounds of a school believed to be in the electorate of Niddrie, Melbourne, on Saturday morning.

Speaking shortly after voting opened, Premier Daniel Andrews said he was urging Victorians to opt for a ‘strong, stable, majority Labor government’ as polls pointed to the potential for a hung parliament.

When pressed on his position on working closely with the Greens or independents to form a minority government, Mr Andrews said his position had been clear for more than a decade.

‘No deal will be offered and no deal will be done,’ he told ABC TV.

Liberal Leader Matthew Guy, who steered the opposition to a crushing defeat at the 2018 election, said he was confident of victory despite the polls strongly favouring Labor.

‘I am confident that Victorians will, at the end of the day, opt for a new government and a fresh start,’ he told reporters after casting his vote in Templestowe on Saturday morning.

Mr Guy said this year’s election had a very different feel to the one four years ago and voters were ‘genuinely looking for an answer to the woes of our health system’, which they trusted the coalition to fix.