One Nation will hold onto the South Australian seat of Narungga following a count of ballot papers that were previously missed.

After the state election on March 21, Chantelle Thomas – standing for Pauline Hanson’s right-wing One Nation party – had been declared the winner in Narungga with a razor-tight margin of 58 votes, ahead of the Liberal Party’s Tania Stock.

However, the Electoral Commission of South Australia said on Thursday it had discovered 77 absent ordinary ballot papers and four declaration ballot papers for the seat that had been returned from another state district.

After the missing votes were counted, the commission released a statement on Friday saying 46 were for Thomas and 30 for Stock – meaning the One Nation margin result increased.

When previously asked whether the Liberal Party would go to the Court of Disputed Returns over the result, leader Ashton Hurn said it would consider its options.

Thomas said on Thursday that the discovery of the missing votes was very disappointing for her community.

“Everyone in Narungga has already spoken. They wanted me as their strong, loud voice, and now it makes us question the integrity of the South Australian elections,” she said.

Acting ECSA commissioner Leah McLay said that 642 votes from across South Australia were discovered in the electorate of Stuart, but there were not enough to change the result of any other seat.

She said that if Friday’s recount had delivered a different result, it would not have automatically resulted in a new candidate being declared the winner. ECSA would have needed to seek Crown advice and looked to petition the Court of Disputed Returns.

McLay said an independent, external review of the 2026 South Australian election would look at issues such as faulty technology, long wait times, and staff not receiving their paycheck on time.

Chantelle Thomas at One Nation’s press conference. Photo: Helen Karakulak

The nail-biter seat of Narungga covers rural Yorke Peninsula between Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent and was the last to be called in the election.

It was previously held by Fraser Ellis, an independent who had been disendorsed by the Liberal Party after being charged with misusing parliamentary funds.

Thomas picked up 37.6 per cent of the primary vote in the state election held on March 21, according to ECSA.

At a press conference on Thursday, Hurn said it was “hugely disappointing” that ECSA had to conduct a further count.

“The fact that there were so many errors that occurred, I think it’s almost unforgivable …,” she said.

“Ultimately, people want to have confidence in the democratic system that we operate in, and that means that all of the processes of the electoral commission need to be watertight, and if there are ways in which we can improve that, then absolutely that needs to happen.”