Randwick Council: tight contests, swings, large informal vote in local election results

Tight contests, swings and a large informal vote have defined early results from Randwick council elections with some candidates flagging a recount to determine the final outcome.

Four seats hang in the balance as counting from the weekend’s local government election goes down to the wire in Randwick.

A mix of familiar faces and first time candidates have secured seats from Saturday’s polling day with Labor leading the field with 31 per cent of the vote.

A total of 15 councillors will be elected on the council, with five seats already called for Labor, three for the Liberals, two for the Greens and one independent.

Randwick Mayor Dylan Parker has been re-elected.

Councillors retaining their seats include Dylan Parker (Lab), Christine Hamilton (Lib), Kathy Neilson (Lab), Noel D’Souza (ind), Danny Said (Lab) and Alexandra Luxford (Lab).

They will join new councillors Daniel Rosenfeld (Lib), Marea Wilson (Lab), Michael Olive (Grn), Joanne McCafferty (Lib) and Rafaela Pandolfini (Grn).

All eyes are now on the four remaining seats in the highly competitive central, south and west wards.

Kathy Neilson has also been re-elected.

A nail biting contest is unfolding in the west ward where two popular sitting councillors are fighting it out for the coveted third and final seat.

Current results show Labor has already secured a seat and Liberals are on track for the second, while just 84 votes separates Philipa Veitch (Greens) and Harry Stavrinos (Our Local Community).

Mr Stavrinos, a former Liberal, believes a recount could be on the cards.

Harry Stavrinos believes a recount could be on the cards.

“It’s that tight and because of the high number of informal votes we just don't know how it will unfold,” he said.

“The whole election was a shemozzle and I think because of the Covid restrictions and not being able to hand out election material (within) 100m from the booths, a lot of people didn’t know how to vote.

“We’re now in a battle that’s going to come down to preferences.”

Sitting Greens councillor Philipa Veitch.

Liberal candidate Bill Burst.

In the south ward, Liberal candidate Bill Burst is currently on track to secure the third seat in the ward but independent Noel D’Souza, who has already been elected, is hopeful his team could pick up a second seat if informal votes are tallied in the final count.

Mr D’Souza said he is intending to seek an official review of informal votes which he attributed to his first-preference vote plummeting from 55 per cent at the last election to 37 per cent this time around.

“Today I feel like Trump, an election may have been stolen from me,” he said.

Noel D'Souza says a high informal vote has defined the initial count.

“We have a 15 per cent informal vote in the ward and that confirms that a large proportion of residents’ votes have not been counted and their voices have been silenced.

“I feel it’s threatened the very heart of democracy.”

In the Central ward, the third seat is currently pointing towards a tight contest between sitting councillor and independent Anthony Andrews who leads Greens candidate Kym Chapple by just 241 votes.

Unfortunately for former South Sydney captain John Sutton, who is running second on Mr Andrews’s ticket, the team’s vote won’t be enough for Sutton to land a seat in the council chambers.

Anthony Andrews.

Mr Andrews said he was feeling confident of getting over the line but expects the final result to come down to preferences and postal votes which are not expected to be added to the count for at least another 10 days.

He believes the high informal vote in his ward could also be down to voter disinterest in the election.

“I think this election was a protest vote – coming out of lockdown people voted funny and there was a lot of anger at the booths regarding vaccines and lockdowns,” he said.

“I think people are just fed up with politics in general and taken it out on the first election which is local government.”

As of Friday, results show Labor has gained a 5.1 per cent swing, the Greens are up 6.5 per cent and Our Local Community has gained 4.4 per cent.

The Liberals have meanwhile taken a 3.7 per cent hit with independents also down 12.2 per cent.

Sitting Labor councillor Danny Said said it was too early to know how the final vote would shape the political makeup of the council over the next three years.

“If I had to take a good guess, I think it will continue to be a Labor-Greens council unless there’s a dramatic difference in the votes that still haven’t come through,” he said.

“It’s surreal until it becomes official and I really feel for the candidates (in the undeclared wards). It’s a waiting game and it’s like drip feeding with the votes coming in such small percentages each day.”

Originally published as Randwick Council: tight contests, swings, large informal vote in local election results