Voters in the Top End go to the polls tomorrow in a by-election that will measure the Territory CLP government’s appeal within days of a bitter internal feud.

The electorate of Blain – which covers much of the Darwin satellite town of Palmerston – is up for grabs, after sitting CLP member and former NT Minister Terry Mills announced his shock resignation last month.

According to former NT Labor Minister Kon Vatskalis – an upset could well be on the cards.

“The ALP had never won Blain and we now believe that can happen,” Mr Vatskalis told Neos Kosmos this week.

“The CLP is vulnerable not only because many residents are angry about the way Mills was treated by the CLP [Mills was deposed as CLP leader whilst overseas], but also by the CLP’s broken promises to bring down the cost of living.

“People in the NT have seen significant rises in power and water by 30 per cent and a lack of land releases that pushes accommodation costs up.”

The by-election couldn’t have come at a worse time for the Giles government, with the result made more unpredictable because of the instability of the Country Liberals after three of its Indigenous MPs resigned from the party a week ago.

Alison Anderson, Larisa Lee and Francis Xavier had been demanding changes to cabinet and a greater focus on Indigenous issues.

After Chief Minister Adam Giles announced that Anderson was sacked from the CLP’s parliamentary wing, all three resigned.

Mr Vatskalis – who was returned to the seat of Casuarina at the 2012 Territory election which saw Labor lose government – says that the CLP’s margin of 13 per cent in Blain at the last election could be whittled down, given the turmoil created by what has been open warfare within the Country Liberals.

The MP for Casuarina said that a loss for the CLP in Blain would bring an ironic sense of ‘deja vu’ to the NT’s rich political proceedings.

If today’s by-election sees the CLP lose, the Giles’ government’s majority will be reduced to minority status – with only 12 members in the 25 member Legislative Assembly.

“If the CLP lose Blain, once again Gerry Wood – the independent who sided with Labor after Alison Anderson resigned as a member of the Henderson Labor government – will again be in the limelight, and he’ll be pushed to support the CLP,” said Mr Vatskalis.

Voters in Blain have been given further cause for thought with the candidacy of Matthew Cranitch – NT branch president of Australian Education Union – running as an independent.

Disclosure last month of a $15,000 donation from AEU NT members’ funds towards Mr Cranitch’s campaign,drew condemnation the union’s national president Angelo Gavrielatos, who said that the NT branch of the union’s actions were “unprecedented” and that the union never directly funded candidates.

While 13.2 per cent appears- at first glance – to be a winning margin for the Country Liberals in Blain, the average swing against governments at by-elections in greater Darwin is 12 per cent.

Stranger things have happened in the colourful political history of the Northern Territory.

The candidates for the Blain by-election in the order they appear on the ballot paper are: Peter Flynn – Citizens Electoral Council; Geoff Bahnert – Australian Labor Party; Nathan Barrett – Country Liberals; Matthew Cranitch – Independent; and Sue McKinnon – The Greens.