Victoria Election 2022: Brawl breaks out at polling place in Niddrie, Melbourne

Dramatic moment voters come to blows at a polling booth in Victoria after one ‘criticised Dan Andrews’ – before a woman and volunteers desperately try to break up the fight

  • Footage captured two voters exchanging blows at Victoria polling station 
  • Two men filmed punching each other in front of families at Niddrie on Saturday
  • Woman could be heard yelling off camera urging the men to stop fighting 

Terrifying footage has captured the moment two voters wrestled with each other in front of horrified residents at a polling station in Victoria.

The pair grappled on the grounds of a school believed to be in the electorate of Niddrie, Melbourne, on Saturday morning.

A bystander recorded the altercation on their phone showing a woman screaming as she tried to intervene in the fist fight.

Terrifying footage has captured the moment two voters grappled in front of horrified residents at a polling station in Victoria

The two men are understood to have clashed after one of them slammed premier Daniel Andrews and yelled, ‘F*** Dan’. 

‘What did you say?’ one of the men responds.

One of the men wearing a hooded jacket and sunglasses then clashes with his opponent with the scuffle knocking off his shades.

Volunteers carrying election pamphlets for different parties are seen trying to step in and break up the fight.

‘Oi, enough brother,’ a person yells. ‘Take it easy, yeah.’

A woman yells off camera: ‘Stop it, stop it, stop it.’

Footage of the clash was uploaded to social media 

‘Glad I voted early …people are f***ed,’ one person wrote.

A second added: ‘This is not ok! Very unAustralian!’

A Victoria Police spokeswoman said no reports had been made to local police.

The sitting member in Niddrie is Labor’s Ben Carroll, who has held the seat since 2012. He is being challenged at this election by candidates including Alan Youhana for the Liberal Party, Declan McGinniss for the Greens, Frank Maugeri for the Freedom Party and Brad Reich for the Victorian Socialists.

Animal Justice, Democratic Labour, Family First and New Democrat candidates are also standing for election. 

At least half of the roughly four million voters enrolled across the state cast their ballots early, with the remainder expected to flock to polling centres on Saturday. 

The pair wrestled on the grounds of school polling place believed to be in Niddrie, Melbourne, on Saturday morning

The pair wrestled on the grounds of school polling place believed to be in Niddrie, Melbourne, on Saturday morning

At least half of the roughly four million voters enrolled across the state cast their ballots early, with the remainder expected to flock to polling centres on Saturday

At least half of the roughly four million voters enrolled across the state cast their ballots early, with the remainder expected to flock to polling centres on Saturday

Polls predict the election to be a close-run contest with the incumbent Labor government’s lead against the conservative coalition shrinking. 

Centre-left Labor was comfortably ahead during the initial stages of the campaign after eight years in power, but a poll done for The Age newspaper out this week showed voters cutting their support.

Labor is ahead 53-47 per cent on a two-party preferred basis against the Liberal-National coalition, though that has dropped from 59-41 per cent in the previous poll in October.

If the poll result is replicated at the election, Premier Daniel Andrews will likely remain the leader of Australia’s second-most populous state for a third straight term, but may not form a majority government. 

Polls predict the election to be a close-run contest with the incumbent Labor government's lead against the conservative coalition shrinking

Polls predict the election to be a close-run contest with the incumbent Labor government’s lead against the conservative coalition shrinking