Zuvele Leschen.
AT least two people will contest preselection for Labor in Indi.
Nominations for the party’s representative at the September poll closed on Friday, with two definite candidates.
But The Border Mail understands neither are from Wodonga.
Zuvele Leschen, secretary of Labor’s federal electoral assembly and a candidate at the 2007 and 2010 elections, said the candidate should be decided by early next month.
She has previously ruled herself out of another tilt at federal politics.
“We have two definite candidates and now it will be up to party members to decide,” Mrs Leschen said.
“Generally that involves a postal ballot that takes about two weeks and then party endorsement that includes probity checks.
“I would expect that in the first half of next month we should know who will represent Labor but it is really at the discretion of the candidate as to when they go public.
“All I can say is the two nominees would both be strong candidates but I’m not saying where they are from, it might give it away.”
The Labor candidate will need an unlikely 10 per cent swing to oust Liberal opposition frontbencher Sophie Mirabella.
She has held the strongly conservative seat since 2001.
Mrs Leschen said the nomination procedure was a little later than usual.
“In the past we have held the preselection a year to 18 months out from the poll,” she said.
“So seven months is probably cutting it short.”
But Mrs Leschen said the party was already in election mode, on the weekend distributing leaflets to Wodonga homes.
“It is a great credit to our volunteers ... who have letterbox dropped about 6000 homes.
“We are just trying to highlight all the things this government has achieved in the past five years.”
