As the ballots are counted in South Australia, it’s now clear that while the Liberal party isn’t politically dead, it’s unalive.

The results so far are both simple and complex. While the headline is that Peter Malinauskas and Labor brought the hammer down on the Liberal party, there are other storylines.

At the time of writing, One Nation’s statewide primary vote has punched through 20% and is several points higher than the Liberal party’s. The Liberals will finish the count with between four and seven seats. One Nation might only pick up one, the electorate of Hammond, although it could also take MacKillop and Ngadjuri.

It’s clear there is a structural realignment under way in Australian politics, with the Liberal party the early and obvious victim.

Because while the bottom fell out of the Liberal vote, which was largely cannibalised by One Nation, at the close of counting on Saturday night the non-major party vote was at a record high of 42%. For context, at the 2006 SA election the non-major party vote was about 19%.

These voting patterns are similar country-wide. In the latest Australian Financial Review/Redbridge/Accent Research federal poll, the non-major party vote was 49%.

Another similar voting behaviour was the almost extinction-level result for the Liberal party in urban seats, with the only win in metropolitan Adelaide on the night being the seat of Bragg, which sits in Christopher Pyne’s former federal electorate of Sturt.

There is an outside chance the party might hold on to the urban seat of Morphett but, with a 20% primary vote swing against the incumbent Liberal, the message is unmistakable – the Liberal party isn’t........

© The Guardian