With counting for the WA election now concluded, all eyes are on who becomes president of the Legislative Council, as Labor could secure a working majority if it convinces Liberal MP Simon O'Brien to take the role.
After winning 41 seats in the 59-seat lower house, Labor now has 14 seats in the upper house where legislation is voted on.
Assuming it has the support of four Greens - up from two - Labor will have half of the council's 36 seats on its side.
To get a majority, Labor hopes to talk Mr O'Brien, who was dumped from the ministry in 2013, into accepting the non-voting president's position.
Political analyst Martin Drum said he expected that wouldn't happen and Labor's Kate Doust would instead take the role.
"This issue of who the president is will be critical," Mr Drum told AAP on Sunday.
"I would be surprised, to be honest, if Simon O'Brien were to accept. It would be a Peter Slipper-type scenario where he would pretty much be disowning his party in doing so.
"And even though he has been somewhat disgruntled, that would come as a bit of a shock - he certainly wouldn't be pre-selected again."
Mr Drum said the biggest surprise of the upper house results, which were finalised on the weekend, was Charles Smith of Pauline Hanson's One Nation winning an East Metropolitan seat, given the minor party targeted regional seats.
Some analysts were expecting the seat to go to Alyssa Hayden of the Liberals, making it her third term in the upper house.
Mr Smith was among several One Nation candidates to speak out against the party's preference deal with the Liberals, which both sides have said damaged them at the polls.
But it benefited One Nation state leader Colin Tincknell, who secured a South West seat on election night.
A fortnight later, Robin David Scott won a seat in the Mining and Pastoral region but came close to a quota without preferences.
And preferences didn't come into play for the East Metropolitan seat because the Liberals and One Nation were competing with each other.
It looked like One Nation had bombed on March 11 when only Mr Tincknell chalked up a win and the party failed to secure a single seat in the lower house, but the two extra seats in the upper house means it actually met expectations.
Meanwhile the final results also delivered the Liberal Democrats their first win in WA, with Aaron Stonehouse securing an upper house seat for the South Metropolitan region.
Share
