Raymond Hoser,from Park Orchards, he planned to run as an independent candidate on a platform of “getting the snakes out of parliament”. However,his name was missing from the Victorian Electoral Commission’s finalised list of candidates released on Friday.
Raymond Hoser will not end up contesting the seat of Warrandyte in the upcoming state byelection.Eddie Jim
Hoser – who vigorously protects his Snake Man trademark with legal threats and has sued – said he had decided to pull out of the race after seeing the rival candidates.
Hoser said after seeing which independents were running he had concluded it wasn’t worth the thousands of dollars it would cost to run the campaign.
“Now I’m a busy man,I do wildlife conservation and research and I’ve just published scientific papers,” he said.
“The reality is,for me to spend two weeks fighting a campaign that is almost certainly going to lose is lunatic.”
Labor is also in the race.
Warrandyte byelection candidates in ballot paper order
The Liberals have preselected former youth pastor and Liberal staffer to run for the seat in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. She aims to succeed Ryan Smith,who previously contested the state party leadership,but announced in May he was.
Smith retained Warrandyte at the 2022 state election with a 3.9 per cent margin over Labor.
Government MPs had been for the upcoming poll in once uber-safe Liberal territory. It is shaping as another amid party divisions over his following her presence at an,and continued
However,Labor administrators were reluctant to bankroll a costly campaign they were not certain to win. The party that it would not field a candidate,boosting the Liberals’ prospects and thus Pesutto’s hold on party leadership.
Greens candidate Tomas Lightbody appears to be the Liberals’ strongest challenger. The 25-year-old Manningham City councillor is aiming to become Victorian parliament’s youngest member.
Ten other minor party or independent candidates will contest the election on Saturday,August 26.
They include:24-year-old Sustainable Australia Party candidate Jack Corcoran,libertarian independent Maya Tesa,socialist lawyer Colleen Bolger,Freedom Party contender Greg Cheesman and socially conservative Family First nominee Richard Griffith-Jones.
Early voting begins on Monday.
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