One Nation faces a recount in its knife-edge South Australian seat of Narungga after state electoral authorities reported the discovery of a batch of uncounted ballot papers.

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

One Nation’s Chantelle Thomas was earlier declared the winner in Narungga with a razor-tight margin of 58 votes ahead of the Liberal Party’s Tania Stock.

Flanked by the party’s other successful SA candidates – Carlos Quaremba, Rebecca Hewitt, Robert Roylance, David Paton and Jason Virgo – on Thursday, Thomas said it was “another hurdle”.

“This is very disappointing for my community in Narungga. 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.

Quaremba flagged a One Nation call for a parliamentary inquiry into the uncounted votes.

Earlier, Thomas used a post on Facebook to throw further doubt on the election result.

“We have fake news out there, and we have this woke agenda”, Thomas said, adding that was part of the reason she had entered politics for One Nation.

ECSA acting commissioner Leah McLay said if the looming recount delivered a different result in Narungga, the issue would have to be referred to the Court of Disputed Returns.

“Following the discovery of votes that have not been counted, I have secured the unopened ballot papers and have ordered a further count for the district of Narungga,” McLay said.

“I have informed all candidates and will oversee the count on Friday, April 17, and nominated scrutineers are invited to attend.”

McLay said about 642 votes had been discovered from the district of Stuart that hadn’t been counted in SA’s March election.

“No other irregularities have been identified,” she said.

“There were ballots in those boxes for other districts, but in small numbers, in districts with significantly larger margins.”

She said ECSA was investigating and an independent, external review was expected.

Acting SA Premier and Attorney General Kyam Maher said the government was “finalising terms of reference” for an independent review into the conduct of the state election.

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

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

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

But the Liberals’ Tania Stock – a former Yorke Peninsula Council deputy mayor – closed with preferences flowing her way after postal votes were counted. SA Liberal Leader Ashton Hurn said on Thursday she did not believe Friday’s recount would change the result but that it “raised alarm bells”.

“The electoral commission will need to do some explaining, really, as to how that’s occurred and why they were found four weeks after the election,” Hurn said.

Republished from InDaily