Queensland election 2015: Ferny Grove could be headed to by-election

While Queensland still waits on an answer about who will be leading its government for the next term, political eyes have turned to Ferny Grove, where voters could be headed back to the polls sooner than they thought.

The Electoral Commission Queensland spent all Tuesday morning dealing with media enquiries after The Courier Mail reported the Palmer United candidate in the north-west seat was an alleged undischarged bankrupt.

Under the Parliament of Queensland legislation, a person found to be an undischarged bankrupt is unable to stand for office.

The LNP is expected to win 42 seats and Labor 44 including Ferny Grove. If the seat was to fall to the LNP, however, it would be in an improved bargaining position with cross-bench MPs and could even form a government.

PUP don't screen their candidates too well evidently.

Section 44 of the Australian Constitution is clear when it says:

44. Any person who -

(i.) Is under any acknowledgement of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power

a primary vote for an unqualified candidate does not destroy the voter’s indication of his or her subsequent preferences… Although an indication of a voter’s preference for an unqualified candidate is a nullity and the indication of preference for that candidate cannot be treated as effective, the ballot paper is not informal. It was held (in re Wood) that “the vote is valid except to the extent that the want of qualification makes the particular indication of preference a nullity” and that there is no reason for disregarding the other indications of the voter’s preference