THE state election campaign is officially under way after writs were issued yesterday morning putting the government into caretaker mode.
Premier Anna Bligh went to Government House yesterday to dissolve Parliament and officially set the election date as March 24.
After leaving Government House, the Premier said she was looking forward to the upcoming battle.
Her visit kicks off a 35-day election campaign, which is being fought in the key seat of Ashgrove where LNP leader Campbell Newman is going head to head with the ALP's Kate Jones.
The LNP needs 14 seats and a swing of more than 4.5 per cent to take office for the first time since 1998.
It is still unknown who will be Premier if the LNP wins but Newman fails to take Ashgrove.
Another poll was released yesterday morning showing the LNP is leading Labor 60per cent to 40 per cent on a two-party preferred basis.
Former Premier Peter Beattie came out in support of Anna Bligh.
On Twitter yesterday morning, he said Julia Gillard needed to call a caucus meeeting and resolve the leadership question once and for all or Anna Bligh may as well stay at home.
In Redland City, there are three state electorates, which have attracted 11 candidates to run in the March 24 state election.
The five known candidates for the seat of Capalaba are incumbent Michael Choi (ALP), Steve Davies (LNP), Graeme Moorhouse (KAP), Penny Allman-Payne (Greens) and David Chidgey (One Nation).
Incumbent MP Michael Choi (ALP) has a 9.7per cent majority in the seat he has held since winning in February 17, 2001.
The seat, which covers Capalaba, Alexandra Hills, parts of Birkdale and Thorneside, has been won by the ALP ever since it was created in 1992.
In the state seat of Cleveland, held by the LNP’s Mark Robinson, 48, since 2009, there are three known candidates.
Mr Robinson, Cleveland’s first non-Labor MP, holds the seat with a slim 0.3 per cent majority.
The seat covers Wellington Point, Ormiston, Cleveland, Thornlands, and North Stradbroke Island and was held by Labor’s Darryl Briskey for five terms until the next Labor candidate, Phil Weightman won in 2006.
This election, 27-year-old health professional Jo Briskey, daughter of the former member, will run as the ALP candidate.
The Greens will field 42-year-old business and IT consultant Brad Scott, a former army captain.
In the seat of Redlands, held by LNP’s Peter Dowling with a margin of 0.1 per cent since 2009, there are three candidates so far.
Since the electorate was established in 1972, it alternated between Labor and the National Party before Mr Dowling, a former Redland Shire councillor, won with 34 votes in 2009.
The seat covers Sheldon, Mount Cotton, Carbrook, Victoria Point, Redland Bay, and southern Moreton Bay islands.
The ALP is running 51-year-old airline worker Peter Seage, a member of the Transport Workers Union Queensland.
The Greens are running David Keogh, who has lived in Cornubia with his family since 1985, and is an accountant and works as a business consultant in the retirement village and aged care sector.
Mr Keogh campaigned against a proposed “koala tollroad” through Redland Shire in the 1990s.
He has been Treasurer of Queensland Conservation since 2005 and was the Greens candidate in the local seat of Bowman at the 2010 Federal election.
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