Kenyan-born lawyer Lucy Gichuhi has been elected to fill the South Australia Senate seat vacancy created after the High Court ruled Bob Day's election to the Senate was invalid.
Ms Gichuhi released a statement which said that the "recount has confirmed that I, Lucy Gichuhi, have been elected to represent the state of South Australia in the Australian Senate".
The special recount was conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission in Adelaide on Thursday.
"I am honoured and grateful for this opportunity to serve Australia. I see it as an opportunity to give back to this great nation".
"I do not intend on commenting on the processes that have brought us to this point. As a lawyer, I am deeply respectful of both the legal and electoral processes," she said.
"I am an Australian citizen and am eligible to serve. I will continue to take advice on all of these matters as we move forward.”
But the ALP is considering challenging her eligibility when the matter returns to the High Court next week to make a final determination on Mr Day's replacement.
A spokesman for Acting Shadow Attorney-General Katy Gallagher said it's a complicated legal issue.
"After obtaining legal advice from Senior Counsel, the ALP is considering making a further submission on this matter when the Court of Disputed Returns considers it again next week," the Labor statement said
"This is not about Ms Gichuhi, this is about the integrity of the Senate and electoral system. The last thing this country needs is a re-run of the Bob Day disaster."
Ms Gichuhi was the number two candidate on Family First's SA Senate ticket at the last election in 2016.
While the recount of preferences was understood to have confirmed her election, the AEC said it would not release details ahead of the matter returning to the High Court.
Last week the court ruled that Mr Day had been ineligible to stand for parliament because he indirectly benefited from a government lease arrangement on his Adelaide electorate office.
SBS News spoke with Ms Gichuhi immediately following the High Court decision.
She said she had "learnt a lot" from Bob Day, who was a reliable crossbench ally for the Turnbull Government, but would not be drawn on whether she too would be likely to support government bills.
"That’s not something I can say a ‘yes’ to or a ‘no’ to," she said.
"I would just be independent-minded and review situations and legislation as they come."
Ms Gichuhi migrated from Kenya to Australia in 1999.
She said she wants to be an example to the growing migrant communities in South Australia that "you can be truly Australian, and feel Australian, and be Australian, and act like an Australian".
"I’m Australian, for the last 20 years. So that is what I’m talking about. I need to ... feel and act like an Australian because I’m here for the long haul," she said.
"And so are so many people who have come here, from whichever part of the world. It doesn’t have to be Africa."
According to her nomination form, Ms Gichuhi became an Australian citizen in 2001.
She said recently that she believed all due diligence, surrounding her ability to take up a Senate position, had been conducted before she was confirmed as a Family First candidate.
"We sought all the legal advice and information that was necessary to truthfully complete the nomination form," she said last week.
However, she has repeatedly declined to answer questions about whether she retained Kenyan citizenship in some form, which could raise constitutional issues.
-with AAP
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