The WA Nationals candidate, Merome 'Mem' Beard, has won the North West Central by-election.
The National Party comfortably retains the WA state seat which was up for grabs following the resignation of Nationals MP Vince Catania.
The electorate covers 820,591 square kilometres of Western Australia but has only 11,189 people registered to vote and has a record of notoriously low voter turnout.
Even with some pre-poll votes potentially still to be counted it looks set to have been only about half of registered voters casting a ballot.
The result has maintained the status quo in WA's Opposition Alliance, with four National MPs and two Liberals in the lower house.
It has prevented the opportunity of an equal spread of lower house MPs between the opposition parties and any subsequent threat to Mia Davies position as Opposition Leader.
The runner up was Liberal Candidate Will Baston.
Labor chose not to run, with Premier Mark McGowan conceding governments rarely win by-elections.
North West Central's new MP, Ms Beard, is a businesswoman and has also been a Carnarvon publican for 20 years.
Given the small number of Opposition MPs, Ms Beard is all but guaranteed a shadow portfolio, however just what that is remains to be seen.
Liberal Party Leader, David Honey, said he was pleased with the results despite his party's predicted defeat prevailing.
"I thought the Nats had the run down the straight on this one, but look a really well fought campaign this one," he said.
"Our candidate Will Baston did fantastically well, we only got eight per cent primary in the last election, we've seen more than a three-fold increase in our primary vote in the election."
Mr Honey said it was a marked improvement on the Liberals performance in the seat at last year's state election.
"We said at the outset that this was building a campaign and rebuilding our base in North West Central and this is a great start," he said.
Mr Honey also dismissed any suggestions he was concerned by the Liberal Party not holding leadership of the opposition Alliance.
New MP ready to 'take the fight to Perth'
Speaking after the result, Ms Beard said it was still sinking in after a long campaign which had seen her clock up more than 10,000 kilometres on the road.
"I'm probably feeling a bit numb right now because 10 weeks ago this wasn't on my radar," she said.
"It's been a long journey, it's been a very tough campaign, it's a short campaign, it's a very big electorate, so hats off to all the candidates.
"I can't thank the electorate enough for supporting me."
Ms Beard said she had a long list of priorities to address.
These included crime, anti-social behaviour, housing shortages, worker shortages, opening the Carnarvon Fascine, health services including the Tom Price and Meekatharra Hospitals, the Wiluna Road, the Great Northern Highway, and sealing the Goldfields Highway.
"There's a long list and we'll start on that next week," she said.
"Something I'm really looking forward to is continuing the fight that Vince Catania had been doing as a massive advocate for the region.
"The National Party are pushing the regions, which is what I believe in, so I'm looking forward to it.
"We need to bring the regions back as a major focus, after all a lot of the royalties that the state gets a benefit from actually come from our regions, so we need to stand up and be heard," she said.
Opposition welcomes 'strong female leader'
Nationals leader, Mia Davies, said it was a fantastic result and it was great to have another strong female leader in the party.
"I'm not going to lie, it's amazing to have another female joining us in the party, but at the end of the day she was just the right person," Ms Davies said.
"She's a local champion, she's worked hard, she's done the yards, and I'm just so grateful to the people of North West Central for recognising that the Nationals have delivered for this region and will continue to do so."
Ms Davies also reiterated her claim that Labor's lack of a candidate showed the government had "abandoned" regional WA.
Ms Beard's predecessor Vince Catania was equally pleased with the result.
"This is an awesome outcome for Mem, for the National Party and for the North West electorate who have got a person who is going to truly represent them, take the fight to Perth, and really highlight the issues," he said.
"That's why the Labor Party didn't run, because Mem is going to take it right up to them to ensure that we can highlight all of the problems that need to be fixed."
Mr Catania, who resigned to spend more time with his family, also had some advice for his successor in representing the state's largest electorate geographically.
"Get a very comfortable car, a swag, and ensure that you see your family from time to time," he said.
"It's a tough gig, one of the hardest electorates in Australia, not just Western Australia.
"And I know that Mem is going to do a fantastic job in covering the kilometres that you've got, 820,000 square kilometres, it's huge it's tough.
"And that's why major parties like the Labor Party don't understand it because they're not on the ground."
Who were the candidates?
A record number of 12 candidates entered the race (in ballot order):
- Niels Glahn-Bertelsen (The Greens)
- Andrea Randle (Western Australia Party)
- Peter Baker (Small Business Party)
- Merome Beard (The Nationals)
- Gerald Laurent (One Nation)
- Leanne Lockyer (Legalise Cannabis)
- Jake Adkins McCoull (Liberal Democrats)
- Anthony Fels (Western Australia Party)
- Aaron Horsman (No Mandatory Vaccination)
- Peter D Dunne (Independent)
- Tony Stokes (Independent)
- Will Baston (Liberal)
