Nicolette Boele has been declared the winner of the Division of Bradfield by 26 votes, after a full recount overturned a narrow lead held by the Liberal candidate, Gisele Kapterian, at the end of the first count.
The Australian Electoral Commission declared the result on 4 June 2025, and Bradfield became the last seat of the federal election held on 3 May to be settled.
The commission is the independent statutory authority that runs federal elections, and it conducted both counts in the division.
The division sits on Sydney’s north shore, and the seat came open at the election through the retirement of the Liberal member Paul Fletcher.
Bradfield was contested at the general election rather than in a by-election, and the count of the division continued for about a month after polling day.
The Result
The recount was held under the commission’s longstanding practice of ordering a fresh count in a division where the margin falls below 100 votes.
The first count had finished with Kapterian ahead by eight votes, and that lead was inside the threshold the commission uses to decide whether to recount a division.
The practice applies where a result could turn on a small number of ballots.
A full recount means every ballot paper in the division is examined again, and the totals are counted a second time.
The recount was the second count of the same ballot papers, and it replaced the first count as the basis of the result.
The commission declares a result only after the count is complete, and the declaration confirms the winner of the division.
The recount produced a different outcome to the first count. Boele finished 26 votes ahead, and the commission declared her the member for Bradfield.
The declaration came at the end of a count that had moved between the two candidates more than once, and it settled a seat that had remained in doubt for weeks.
How the Count Moved
On 12 May, the ABC’s election analyst Antony Green called the seat for Kapterian, who was then about 200 votes ahead with roughly 1,000 ballots left to be counted.
Green’s call projected a Liberal hold at that stage, and the result was later reversed in the recount.
Boele became the provisional leader by 40 votes after the unofficial distribution, before Kapterian pulled back ahead by eight to finish the initial count in front.
The lead moved between the candidates as counting continued, and the eight-vote finish sent the division to the full recount.
Reaction to the Result
Boele said the win had changed the history of the seat. “After 75 years, Bradfield’s longstanding hold by one party has changed,” she said.
She thanked Kapterian for “the civility she’s shown as a candidate during this close contest”.
Kapterian said she would “carefully review the two counts”.
“This recount has created a different result, while I was ahead at the conclusion of the original count, Ms Boele is now ahead after this recount,” she said.
The Challenge, and Its End
The Liberal Party had 40 days from the return of the writs to petition the Court of Disputed Returns, which is the court that hears challenges to the results of federal elections.
Kapterian’s petition sought an adjudication on the validity of 151 ballot papers.
On 25 September 2025, she withdrew it.
“After a final review of the ballot papers following the two different results in Bradfield, I am satisfied that, overall, the correct outcome has been declared,” she said.
Boele said the process had given her “an even greater appreciation for the safeguards we have in place”.
Electoral Commissioner Jeff Pope said the commission had left “absolutely no stone unturned”.
Boele was sworn in at the Opening of Parliament on 23 July 2025, two months before the petition was withdrawn.
The withdrawal ended the challenge, and the result in Bradfield became final.
Why It Matters
Boele is the first independent member of parliament for Bradfield. She had fallen just short at the 2022 federal election and was backed by the Climate 200 group.
The win ends 75 years of one-party hold on the seat.
The margin of 26 votes is among the closest results recorded at a federal election.
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Sources: ABC News, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-04/bradfield-federal-election-result-seat-winner-boele-kapterian/105370304; AEC, https://www.aec.gov.au/media/2025/05-24.htm; ABC News, https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-25/liberal-gisele-kapterian-abandons-bradfield-court-challenge/105815662; AEC, https://www.aec.gov.au/media/2025/09-25.htm; The Guardian, https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/jun/04/teal-nicolette-boele-projected-to-win-bradfield-over-liberal-candidate-after-close-recount
