More than 1500 candidates for May election

A total of 1514 candidates have nominated to contest the May 18 federal election, the Australian Electoral Commission has announced.

More than 1500 candidates have thrown their hat into the ring for the May federal election, but the final figure has failed to break the record set three years ago.

The Australian Election Commission has announced 458 candidates will contest 40 Senate vacancies on May 18.

Some 1056 people will vie for 151 House of Representatives seats across Australia, bringing the total to 1514.

The number is slightly lower than in 2016 when a double-dissolution election meant almost double the amount of Senate spots were up for grabs and 1625 candidates nominated.

More than 50 million ballot papers will be printed and distributed over the next few days ahead of early voting starting on Monday.

A record 16.4 million Australians are enrolled to vote and will be able to cast their votes at more than 8000 polling places from Monday until polls close at 6pm on May 18.

Of the 458 Senate candidates, 280 are men and 178 women. Among the 1056 lower house candidates, 714 are men, 341 women and one didn't identify a gender.

The candidate nominations were officially declared on Wednesday, with ballot draws done soon after to decide the order in which people are listed.

Pauline Hanson's chances of getting two of her One Nation colleagues over the line in the Senate were boosted in Queensland and Western Australia.

One Nation drew second spot on the Queensland Senate ballot paper and first on the WA paper, in a process conducted by the AEC.


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Source: AAP


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