CLP candidate for Barkly Steve Edgington is looking likely to win the tight seat in a surprise result that had the mayor of the Barkly Regional Council trailing Labor electorate staffer Sid Vashist for the better part of two weeks.

The NT Electoral Commission is today conducting a final count with all mail-in ballots in the four undecided seats of Barkly, Araluen, Blain and Namatjira – all of which had no more than two dozen votes separating candidates at the start of counting today.

As of 1:21 pm, Mr Edgington had taken the lead and was up by seven votes in two candidate preferred counts in Barkly with a lead made up in postal ballots. The seat would be a gain for the CLP after it was held by Labor’s Gerry McCarthy since 2008.

That means the Gunner Labor Government will take 14 seats, the CLP seven, with two independents and Territory Alliance Araluen incumbent Robyn Lambley looking likely to give the TA its only seat.

In Araluen, Ms Lambley increased her lead over Alice Springs mayor Damien Ryan by 42 votes on Friday afternoon.

In Blain, Labor’s Mark Turner was up by seven votes on the CLP’s Matt Kerle.

In Namatjira, the CLP’s Bill Yan was ahead of Labor’s Sheralee Taylor by 22 votes.

The NTEC began counting today following the noon deadline for postal ballots to be received, with 881 total votes to be counted against all 25 electorates.

A spokesman said the full distribution of preferences will occur next to determine official results, which is expected to be completed by 10pm tonight.

The official declaration of the 2020 Terriotry Election will take place on Monday.