The Liberal Party has officially lost its 60-year stranglehold on the NSW seat of Wagga Wagga with independent Joe McGirr declared the winner of the September 8 by-election.
The NSW Electoral Commission confirmed the result on Friday almost a week after voters went to the poll in the state's Riverina.
Dr McGirr received 59.6 per cent of the vote on a two-party preferred basis versus the Liberals' Julie Ham on 40.4 per cent.
Ms Ham earned 28 more first preference votes than Dr McGirr - 12,031 to his 12,003 - but had fewer preferences flow her way.
Labor's Dan Hayes came within 600 votes of beating Ms Ham during the distribution of preferences which would have been an even bigger disaster for the Liberal Party.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian this week accepted responsibility for the crushing defeat but said the messy removal of Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister and the local corruption scandal that sparked the early poll had provided a "perfect storm".
The by-election was forced after ex-Liberal MP Daryl Maguire resigned after being caught in a corruption scandal.
