West Australian Premier Mark McGowan set to claim what could be a record-breaking election win that his Liberal opponents are calling a ‘disaster’

Mark McGowan’s Labor government has claimed what is shaping to be a bloodbath victory in the West Australian election.

Opposition Leader Zak Kirkup called the premier about two hours after polls closed on Saturday to formally concede defeat.

Results suggest the Liberals’ nightmare scenario has become reality, with the party set to be reduced to just two MPs and lose their opposition status to the Nationals.

Mr Kirkup has lost his marginal electorate of Dawesville, becoming the first WA Liberal leader to lose his seat since the 1930s.

He reiterated that he would not seek re-election at a state or federal level.

‘It is a loss that will be difficult to bear,’ he said in his concession speech.

‘But in so doing we must remember that 2021 is not an end but a beginning. In so doing, we must remember that it is an obligation we all have to make sure that over the next four years, we do all we can to help rebuild this party.’

Mr McGowan was accompanied by his wife Sarah and their children for his victory speech.  

‘This is a humbling experience. To every last West Australian who voted to re-elect this WA Labor government, thank you so much,’ he said. 

The ABC’s electoral analyst Antony Green called the election for Labor with less than one per cent of the ballots counted and just 42 minutes after the vote count began.  

‘It’s a tsunami, just wiping everything out,’ former Liberal leader Colin Barnett said. 

WA Premier Mark McGowan and Mrs Sarah McGowan (pictured) are seen with ballot papers before casting their votes 

Western Australi Premier Mark McGowan (pictured) is set to claim a landslide election victory with the polls closing on Saturday 

Mark McGowan and wife Sarah celebrate his re-election as WA Premier at the party’s HQ on Saturday night 

Mark McGowan gives his victory speech to supporters accompanied by his wife and three children (pictured) 

Premier Mark McGowan is seen speaking to Labor volunteers at polling booths at the West Byford Primary School on Saturday

Supporters (pictured) of the WA Premier celebrated as the Labor premier stormed ahead in Saturday night’s vote count 

Early results showed a remarkable and quickly climbing double-digit swing to Labor and an almost 10 per cent fall in the Liberals’ vote.

Liberal leader Zak Kirkup conceded defeat at 9.30pm local time saying: ‘The people of Western Australia have spoken.’ 

‘With a very small number of members [in parliament] we must do all we can to hold Labor to account,’ he said. 

The 34-year-old WA Liberal party leader added that he would not be returning to politics again.  

‘Western Australians have overwhelmingly chosen to elect the McGowan Labor government for a second term in office,’ Mr Kirkup said. 

‘That is obviously very devastating for us here today, it means that we lose incredibly good local members of Parliament and it means that we lose very good candidates who could have been part of the Liberal Party going forward. It is a loss that will be difficult to bear. It is a loss that all of us feel.’ 

The Liberals could be reduced to a handful of lower house seats and potentially lose their official opposition status to the Nationals.

Liberal figures have called for reform as the party faces a wipeout in the state election, possibly holding as few as two seats – down from 13.

It also looks likely that the Nationals will become the official WA opposition, with more seats than the Liberals.

Labor’s parliamentary majority could ultimately be the biggest held by any party in WA’s history.

‘This is a disaster, let’s be honest about it,’ retiring former Liberal leader Mike Nahan told the ABC.

Zak Kirkup is poised to become the first WA Liberal leader to lose their seat since the 1930s. 

‘This will be a cleansing for the Liberal party and it will be up to us to get our act into gear,’ former WA Liberal leader Mike Nahan told the ABC.

‘Unfortunately we (have) very few seats to work with.’

A call by the Liberals to open WA borders while the state continued to deal with COVID-19 had done ‘immense’ political damage, Dr Nahan added.

Western Australia’s Liberal Candidate Zak Kirkup conceded defeat in the election and said he would be stepping away from politics (pictured arriving at polling booths at Glencoe Primary School in Perth on Saturday) 

Retiring Liberal MP Dean Nalder said there were real concerns about the influence of conservative powerbrokers over the party.

‘There seems to be this sense of anger (among voters),’ he told Perth radio 6PR.

‘Some people feel that we lost sight of our values as a Liberal party and we need to regain that.’

Former Liberal MP Murray Cowper said the party would require a root-and-branch overhaul in the wake of the result.

‘We have a house on fire – do we let it burn to the ground and rebuild from the ground up?,’ he told Seven News. 

Cheers rang out across Labor’s election-night function as results flashed up predicting gains in Kalgoorlie, Darling Range and Hillarys.

Deputy Premier Roger Cook said voters had rejected the Liberals’ campaign against handing Labor too much control.

‘People are recognising that Labor’s a good government,’ he said.

Mark McGowan (pictured with his wife on Saturday) has won a second term as Western Australian premier 

‘Mark McGowan is a great premier and has led a good government that takes responsible and careful decisions and doesn’t act out of temper.’

Liberal MP David Honey’s safe seat of Cottesloe is one of the very few the party will have some confidence of retaining.

‘There are going to be some really excellent people who will possibly lose their seats,’ Mr Honey said.

‘The whole electoral cycle just turned to a vote on COVID or how well the government had handled COVID and that’s what we’ve seen coming through to this election.’

Federal Liberal senator Ben Small earlier told Seven News that anywhere between five and 10 seats being held by the party ‘will be celebrated’.

The Nationals are set to become the Opposition to McGowan’s Labor party with Liberals expected to hold as few as two seats after the election 

Mr Kirkup voted alongside his father Rob in his electorate on Saturday, saying he had no regrets about the Liberals’ campaign.

Asked whether he ever thought it was possible for the Liberals to win the election, Mr Kirkup – who took over the leadership in November – replied ‘probably not’.

‘The reality is, history would be going against us in any case – 1974 was the last time that a first-term government was voted out of office in Western Australia,’ he said.

Mr McGowan visited a polling place in the district of Hillarys, the Liberals’ most marginal seat and one that appears certain to fall to Labor.

The premier said COVID-19 had presented ‘one of the biggest crises the country and world has seen since the Second World War’.

‘It’s been an affirmation for me of the great spirit of our state and we want to have the opportunity to make sure Western Australia stays on its current pathway,’ he said.