Palmer United Party scrutineers are challenging and rechallenging thousands of votes in the Queensland seat of Fairfax in what some commentators have suggested is a calculated abuse of the electoral process.
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More than half of the 89,176 votes cast in Fairfax for the federal election have been challenged since the recount of the seat began on October 3 after PUP leader Clive Palmer finished just seven votes ahead of the Liberal National Party's Ted O'Brien.
While the LNP is also challenging ballot papers, the Australian Electoral Commission says the ''vast majority'' of challenges have come from PUP.
ABC election analyst Antony Green said the level of PUP challenges suggested a ''calculated abuse of the process'' in the Fairfax recount.
''I don't know what they're up to,'' he said.
Mr Green suggested that PUP, backed by Mr Palmer's wealth, was trying to wear the LNP out, given the significant demands placed on scrutineers' time.
The AEC will not have a figure for the cost of the recount until the 2013 election costs are finalised, but estimated the bill for the Fairfax recount would be in the ''tens of thousands of dollars''.
As well as costs for about 15 staff - some of whom are working six days a week - the AEC is paying rent for a centre in Maroochydore and fuel costs for driving challenged votes to Brisbane and back.
Scrutineers initially challenged more than 50,000 votes in the recount, so the ballots were referred to the Fairfax divisional returning officer.
Scrutineers then rechallenged almost 44,000 votes, 49 per cent of the total votes, and those were sent to the Australian Electoral Officer for Queensland in Brisbane.
''The rate of referred challenges to the AEO has certainly impacted on the speed of the count and added to its complexity, which will continue this week and into next week,'' an AEC spokesman said.
The 49 per cent of votes sent to Brisbane compares with the 0.64 per cent of votes that were sent to the AEO during the recount of the Victorian seat of McEwen after the 2007 federal election.
On Monday, Mr Palmer, who has been a vocal critic of the electoral system, had a lead of 52 votes over Mr O'Brien, with 23 out of 46 polling places finalised.
The PUP leader began the week 41 votes ahead of Mr O'Brien and, before the recount resumed, told Fairfax Media he was feeling ''confident''.
He was unavailable for comment about the recount on Monday.
Last week, Mr Palmer told reporters he was keeping his scrutineers well nourished with champagne and caviar, while Mr O'Brien's scrutineers had tea and cheese sandwiches.
