WA election 2025: Basil Zempilas celebrates winning Churchlands with Greek dancing

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WA election 2025: Basil Zempilas celebrates winning Churchlands with Greek dancing

Basil Zempilas went back to his Greek roots with a post-election shindig to celebrate his election win on Saturday.

The Liberal spent election night on tenterhooks with the count neck-and-neck between Mr Zempilas and Labor MP Christine Tonkin until late into the evening.

But he celebrated in style after learning he had received 52 per cent of the primary vote, ahead of Ms Tonkin’s 28 per cent.

Footage shared to his wife Amy’s

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account show him addressing his cheering supporters, decked out in blue t-shirts, along with Amy and his daughter Ava, who turned 14 on Sunday.

“Thank you everybody but firstly I apologise because it’s such a late night because it’s taken so long to get here with hopefully the news that you’ve all been waiting to hear,” Zempilas told the crowd.

And it seems his Liberal supporters wasted no time in partying the night away, with some traditional Greek dancing — a nod to his Greek ancestry.

Camera IconBasil partied away election night after his win in Churchlands. Credit: Amy Zempilas/

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Mr Zempilas appeared to be in high spirits as Zorba’s Dance was played by a bouzouki player and he worked his way around a function room.

“A bit of Greek dancing to celebrate the win last night,” Amy wrote on

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on Sunday.

Mr Zempilas watched much of the vote count in his seat while on live TV on 7NEWS’ election night panel.

While the seat was on a knife-edge earlier in the night, he appeared relieved as the seat was called late on Saturday.

“I’m told that I’ve won,” Mr Zempilas said at 10pm.

“I knew it was going to be close, I knew it was going to be tight and if a $1 million smear campaign has no effect then what’s the point.

“I’ve withstood that and I’ve won the seat of Churchlands on a night when there was not a huge swing towards the Liberal party around the State.”

Mr Zempilas has been touted a future leader, with supporters even pushing him forward late last year and plunging Liberal leader Libby Mettam into crisis.

But, on Sunday, he ruled out “rash” decisions in the wake of the Liberals’ election thumping, saying questions of leadership change cannot be answered until the complete picture is clear.

Mr Zempilas said talk of leadership change after a poor showing from the Liberals was too early.

“This is not a time for anything rash. This is not a time for haste,” he said in a radio interview.

“We should wait and see what this full picture of this result is, and then digest it fully then and and that includes Libby.

“Today’s not the day for any decisions about anybody’s future. We need to properly understand what this result is before those contemplations.”

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