Gold Coast City Council election 2024: Mayoral battle to come down to Tom Tate and Eddy Sarroff
The Gold Coast mayoral contest is effectively a “two-horse race” with incumbent Tom Tate and sparring partner Eddy Sarroff the only candidates able to win. FIND OUT WHY
Council Election
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The Gold Coast mayoral contest is effectively a “two-horse race” with incumbent Tom Tate and sparring partner Eddy Sarroff the only candidates able to win, poll booth organisers say.
The Bulletin has contacted experienced poll booth organisers across the City - with a week of pre-poll voting in the bag - and they agree only Mayor Tate or Mr Sarroff can get the job - and add the 2024 race could go to preferences.
Mayor Tom Tate is expected to get between 45 per cent and 55 per cent of the vote.
But his support is incredibly strong in some booths, yet poor in others where Mr Sarroff appears to be equal if not just slightly ahead.
“Eddy is in front down south. From Mudgeeraba to Burleigh Waters down, it feels like Eddy is winning,” an experienced booth worker said.
But it is a different outcome in the fast growing suburbs of the city’s north, north of Helensvale.
“I reckon there are less anti-Tom voters than in 2020. Last time they were looking for the (2020 Mayoral candidate) Mona Hecke card. They were looking for someone new and fresh,” a northern booth worker said.
“This time people are saying ‘who are the mayoral candidates?’. They are saying ‘We haven’t heard anything from them’ and ‘we don’t know what they stand for’.”
Mr Sarroff was emotional when asked how his campaign was going.
“It’s very positive. We are hearing a lot from the voters that it’s time for change,” he said.
“I’m feeling very. It’s nice to see the response we are getting at the moment. We won’t know until polling day. Obviously the big challenge for me is have support from volunteers.”
Sources suggest Mayor Tate has been focused in the south, where his booth volunteers have outnumbered Mr Sarroff by five to one. He has stood on the booths each day.
“It’s been an interesting few days. Democracy is the ultimate arbiter of community sentiment and what I know is every vote will count come March 16,” Mr Tate said.
“I plan being out there every day engaging with voters and putting forward my best case so hopefully people vote to retain an experienced and reliable civic leader rather than the unknown.”
Another mayoral candidate considered visible at the booths has been Danielle Dunsmore. Volunteers at Helensvale say she is getting a good response.
Lavinia Rampino has had volunteers handing out at the Runaway Bay booth.
Dr Pandanus Petter, a research fellow at Griffith University’s Centre for Government and Public Policy, said the circumstances of the nine-candidate race heavily favoured Mr Tate’s re-election.
“(When you have a nine-horse race), it heavily favours the incumbent, especially when they are well-known and Tom Tate has been around for a long time.
“He’s high-profile and when you have optional preferential voting, people do not have to number all the squares and you will see a lot of people exhaust their votes before filling in all nine boxes.
“Eddy Sarroff also has a high profile but not everyone will know who he is now because he hasn’t been in council for a while, so the circumstances favour the incumbent.”
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