first lower house seat secured by Australia's far-right party

New South Wales on May 9, 2026., One Nation candidate David Farley speaks to the media at a polling station during the Farrer By-Election in Albury | Photo Credit: AFP Australian far-right populist party Pauline Hanson's One Nation won ​its first seat in the country's House of ‌Representatives in a byelection on Saturday (May 9, 2026), a ​preliminary vote count revealed.The ⁠result is in line with a surge of electoral support for far-right populist parties globally. ‌Britain's ruling Labour party this week suffered a widespread loss ‌of seats at council elections.David Farley, a ‌former ⁠agribusiness executive, won the rural seat ⁠of Farrer, some 550 km (340 miles) south of Sydney and 320 km (200 miles) north of ​Melbourne, for the ‌anti-immigration party with a projected vote of 59.1%, defeating the incumbent centre-right Liberal Party, based on the Australian Broadcasting Corp."It's ‌very clear, the next member for ​Farrer is David Farley," Australian Broadcasting Corp election analyst Casey Briggs stated ⁠in a broadcast. "It's not a close result."The result is significant in that ‌it marks the first time One Nation has won a lower-house seat since Hanson formed the party 30 years ago.But it does not affect the parliamentary majority of the ruling Labor ‌Party, which holds 94 of 150 lower-house seats. Latest updates suggest that, The ​seat was left vacant when Liberals leader Sussan Ley resigned in ⁠February.The Labor Party did not run ⁠a candidate in the contest for the seat that has been held ‌by the opposition conservatives since it was formed more than half a ​century ago. New information indicates that, 2026 04:40 pm IST, Published - May 09