Nick Reece wins Melbourne lord mayoral race, fends off Carlton great Anthony Koutoufides

Nick Reece has retained his position as Melbourne Lord Mayor. Here’s what he promised and what Melbourne will miss out on after his rivals failed to claim the top job from him.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Nick Reece has been elected to the city’s top job, fending off Carlton great Anthony Koutoufides who was a chance to win the high-stakes council election.

Mr Reece, who finished with 61.5 per cent of the vote over the Greens’ Roxane Ingleton with 38.5 per cent, will lead the city for the next four years after becoming Lord Mayor in July following Sally Capp’s resignation.

Several lord mayoral candidates, including Mr Reece and his running mate Roshena Campbell, packed into Drill Hall on Victoria St from 2.30pm to watch the Victorian Electoral Commission calculate the results live with the help of a computer program.

Mr Reece and Ms Campbell shared a hug and Mr Reece embraced his wife Felicity Pantelidis after the program revealed that the pair had been elected after a rollercoaster four-month campaign.

Mr Reece and his running mate Roshena Campbell were all smiles after learning they had won the election. Picture: Nadir Kinani

Speaking outside the Queen Victoria Market soon after, Mr Reece said he was not only “proud” but “humbled” to have been elected.

“It is truly the honour of my life to be serving our city in this role,” he said.

“I’m looking forward to the next four years knowing that the best days of our city are ahead of us.

“I will build a Melbourne that is cleaner, greener, safer and more prosperous.”

He added: “I did not put myself forward for the title or the position. I put myself forward because I want to work, I’m hungry to work hard every single day to deliver for Melburnians.”

The Lord Mayor described the election as “hard-fought”, having gone up against all three major political parties and high-profile candidates including Koutoufides and former deputy lord mayor Arron Wood.

“We haven’t seen a field like that for the lord mayor probably in modern times,” he said.

“I’d like to thank the other candidates who put themselves forward in this election. Democracy is better when people have a choice.”

Mr Reece says he is looking forward to the next four years. Picture: Nadir Kinani

The nine councillor positions were filled by Kevin Louey and Mark Scott from Team Reece, Liberal Owen Guest, Greens’ Olivia Ball, Labor’s Davydd Griffiths, Gladys Liu from Team Kouta, Philip Le Liu from Team Wood, Rafael Camillo from Gary Morgan’s ticket and Andrew Rowse from the Innovate Melbourne team.

Four – Louey, Ball, Griffiths and Le Liu – served on the last council.

While most eyes were on the presidential – not lord mayoral – race, the VEC on Wednesday finished counting the final 24,000 ballot papers, but did not formally announce the result until Thursday afternoon.

But election analysis, conducted for candidates and obtained by the Herald Sun on Wednesday afternoon, revealed that Mr Reece would claim victory thanks to the flow of preferences.

Mr Reece and his running mate Roshena Campbell. Picture: David Caird

The Greens’ primary vote surged from 11.4 per cent to 14.2 per cent after the second batch of ballot papers – received after October 25 – were counted, helping Ms Ingleton to leapfrog the Liberals’ Mariam Riza and finish in second place.

Ms Ingleton said this was the first time the Greens had finished second in the lord mayoral race on a two-ticket preferred basis.

“I’m actually blown away by the result,” she said.

“Given the current electoral system where businesses and non-residential property owners get two votes each ... it speaks volumes for us to have such an outstanding result this time.”

Ms Ingleton, a midwife, said she would “absolutely” run again in four years’ time.

The Greens’ lord mayoral candidate Roxane Ingleton. Picture: David Caird

Koutoufides had been considered a chance to claim victory over Mr Reece following the distribution of preferences – given the Liberals preferenced Team Kouta ahead of Team Reece on their how-to-vote cards – but he ultimately failed to overtake the Liberals to claim their preferences.

Of the 11 lord mayoral tickets, the Animal Justice Party was the first to be knocked out of the race, followed by Voices for Melbourne, Rip Up the Bike Lanes and businessman Gary Morgan.

From there, Labor was next to be knocked out, followed by current councillor Jamal Hakim and Mr Wood.

Anthony Koutoufides. Picture: Wayne Taylor

Of the final four tickets left standing, Mr Reece recorded 32.3 per cent of the vote, followed by the Greens (26.3 per cent), the Liberals (22.3 per cent) and Koutoufides (19 per cent).

Koutoufides’ votes were then largely distributed between Mr Reece and the Liberals, but the Greens’ primary vote was strong enough to push the Liberals into third.

Mr Reece, Ms Campbell and the nine councillors will be sworn in at Town Hall on November 19 before convening for their first council meeting later in the month.

Liberal lord mayoral candidate Mariam Riza. Picture: Supplied

The Lord Mayor said he was looking forward to discussing his policies with his “councillor colleagues”, but refused to be drawn on whether he would follow through on his plan to sell the Regent Theatre.

“We have a really strong group of councilors, a really sensible group of councilors, and I think there’ll be a workable group ... a council there that can really work and deliver for Melburnians,” he said.

He added that he was “confident” he could deliver “on everything” in his plan, even going as far to say he would consider implementing election promises made by other candidates.

“I do plan to have a really good look at all the ideas put forward at this election,” he said.

Mr Reece, a long-time Labor member, ran with Ms Campbell, a Liberal member, on an independent “unity ticket”.

Ms Campbell said she was honoured to run with Mr Reece, adding that city safety and cleanliness were top priorities for the both of them.

Mr Reece (left) and Arron Wood at the VCCI lord mayoral breakfast forum at Crown. Picture: Jessica Hooper

Prior to the distribution of preferences, Mr Reece had secured 23.4 per cent of the primary vote, followed by the Greens (14.2 per cent), the Liberals (13.6 per cent) and Koutoufides (12.9 per cent).

Mr Wood, who was considered one of Mr Reece’s main rivals, last week conceded that he would not win, having recorded a primary vote of only 10.1 per cent.

The Greens have finished second on primary votes at the last three lord mayoral elections, but have failed each time to benefit from the allocation of preferences.

One election insider told the Herald Sun it was clear that a large portion of voters ignored the candidates’ how-to-vote cards, which reflected the preference deals struck between teams.

Under the preferential voting system, once primary votes are distributed, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and their votes are allocated to the next preferred candidate – where the voter has put No.2.

After this, the totals are counted again and the next lowest-scoring candidate is eliminated and so on and so forth. This process continues until one candidate receives an absolute majority of votes (more than 50 per cent).