Long term Moreland councillor Oscar Yildiz to ditch Labor and run in Pascoe Vale

A VETERAN Labor councillor and two-time mayor is set to abandon his party and challenge the safe Labor seat of Pascoe Vale as an independent at the upcoming state election.

Moreland councillor Oscar Yildiz has set his sights on state politics.

A VETERAN Labor councillor and two-time mayor is set to abandon his party and challenge the safe Labor seat of Pascoe Vale as an independent at the upcoming state election.

Oscar Yildiz, a Pascoe Vale South resident, is expected to officially announce his candidacy as an independent at a June 16 fundraiser, after giving up his long held Labor Party membership.

Pascoe Vale is a safe Labor seat and has been held by Lizzie Blandthorn since 2014. Cr Yildiz would require a 17 per cent swing to take it from Labor.

The North West Ward councillor previously considered running in the Melbourne Lord Mayoral election.

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He also nominated as a Labor candidate for the seat of Brunswick, but was passed over for preselection by the party in favour of Cindy O’Connor.

While tight-lipped about specific reasons for leaving the Labor Party, Cr Yildiz said his “time is now” to move to state politics, and he wanted to help the government “rediscover Pascoe Vale”.

“This electorate has been taken for granted by the government for too long and I’m considering running as an independent to stop the complacency about this seat,” he said.

“For too long this area has been forgotten and ignored by the major parties.

“I’m not a candidate who has been transplanted or parachuted in to this community. I am from this community and people are not stupid, they know the difference.”

Cr Yildiz has been a councillor since 2008 and also a prominent anti-bullying advocate, having founded the Bully Zero Australia Foundation in 2012.

The Victorian Electoral Commission website states a councillor is “eligible to stand for election but will not be eligible to take office without first resigning” from council, meaning if Cr Yildiz is successful his resignation would trigger a countback from the 2016 council election.

The state election will be held on November 24.

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