Labor wins big at unorthodox Mayoral elections

Labor wins big at unorthodox Mayoral elections

While the results of the Leichhardt Council Mayoral elections saw the appointment of both a Labor Mayor and Deputy Mayor, the course of proceedings was anything but ordinary.

Only one nomination for Mayor had been lodged prior to the evening of the election, which was that of the Greens incumbent Rochelle Porteous. In a surprising turn of events, Labor Party Councillor Darcy Byrne disrupted the election proceedings by lodging his own nomination. The nomination form was filled out on the spot with the help of Councillor Linda Kelly.

Darcy Byrne was then appointed Mayor after all eight Labor and Liberals candidates voted him in, while the Greens all voted for Ms Porteous.

As the crowd applauded, disgraced former Greens Councillor Alan Cinis angrily stormed out of the hall exclaiming loudly: “Darcy Byrne is Tony Abbott in a fat suit.”

Meanwhile the Greens councillors looked crestfallen and dumbstruck. The Deputy Mayor vote was then held with Liberal Councillor Vera-Ann Hannaford, Greens Councillor Daniel Kogoy and Labor’s Ms Kelly as candidates. In similar style to the Council election results, there was a unanimous tie with each party voting for their own candidate.

Under these circumstances, Council procedure ensures one of the contenders be excluded from the vote by drawing the names out of a hat. The electoral authority randomly chose the paper with Mr Kogov’s name on it, thus excluding him from the Deputy Mayor vote.

The subsequent vote saw Ms Kelly inducted as the new Deputy Mayor, with votes from the Labor Party and three Greens members, while the Liberal party all voted for Ms Hannaford. Councillor Michelle McKenzie abstained from voting as an act of protest in defiance of Mr Byrne.

John Stamolis, an Independent councillor who did not receive enough votes for a second term in office, believes the Liberal Party’s decision not to put forward a Mayoral candidate was highly suspect particularly considering the Liberals polled higher than Labor Party. Mr Stamolis also raised concerns regarding the Liberal Party’s level of competency to do the job.

“The voters who went faithfully to the ballot box to give the Liberals the best vote they have ever gotten in an election, think that the Liberals are challenging the other parties, and that they are going hard and strong,” Mr Stamolis said. “But in fact they capitulated on day one.

“I believe that the Liberal Party was not confident to put anyone forward.”

Liberal member and first time Leichhardt Councillor, John Jobling, revealed like Mr Byrne, Mr Jobling had his own completed nomination form on hand that evening ready to submit if opportunity arose. But with Labors nomination of Mr Byrne, the Liberals oddly felt no need to forward a nomination.

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