Coalition hopes to exorcise the ghost of Scott Morrison as Cook goes to the polls

The Liberal party will be hoping to the exorcise the ghost of Scott Morrison on Saturday as voters in Sydney’s south go to the polls to elect his replacement.

The byelection in the seat of Cook, which comes after Morrison announced his resignation from politics in January, is almost certain to be won by the Liberal candidate Simon Kennedy.

Nonetheless, the seat – which has been held by the Liberals by a comfortable margin since 1975 – has six candidates running, including members of the Greens, the Animal Justice party, the Libertarians, Sustainable Australia and an independent.

While byelections are often seen as a gauge of general political feeling and the chance for a protest vote against an incumbent government, Saturday’s results are unlikely to tell us much, says Bonham, given Labor have not fielded a candidate.

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Australia’s electoral commissioner, Tom Rogers, urged constituents to vote and reminded them that failure to do so could result in a fine and “will mean you have no say on who represents you in parliament”.