A 19-Year-Old Uni Student Could Become VIC’s Youngest Ever MP

Declan Martin was planning to take a Gap Year in 2019, but, er, maybe not now.

Victoria took to the polls on Saturday, delivering a shellacking to the Coalition and returning Labor’s Daniel Andrews as Premier.

And yet, the swing towards Labor even caught some of its own members by surprise.

Case in point: Declan Martin, a 19-year-old uni student who is in striking distance of becoming the first ever Labor member for the seat of Brighton, which Liberals have historically held since 1856.

ABC’s election analyst Antony Green is still predicting the Liberal Party will retain the seat, despite a nearly seven per cent swing against them. However, a third of votes remain to be counted, and there are fewer than 1,600 votes separating the Liberal Party's James Newbury from his teenage counterpart.

No one was more surprised on election night than Martin himself, who had only signed up for the seat two months ago and spent approximately $1,750 on his campaign.

According to the ABC, Martin—a uni student who’s just finished the first year of his urban planning degree—simply stepped up to be the candidate for a likely-losing seat when no-one else would.

He was even planning to take a year off school in 2019 to travel Europe. However, that’ll now depend on how the vote winds up in Brighton.

As of this writing, the Labor candidate’s Twitter page has a pinned tweet dedicated to what appears to be his late dog.

More news as it develops.

Header Image: Facebook (Declan Martin - Labor candidate for Brighton)