Hotly contested Alice Springs mayoral race to be decided on preferences, no result for a fortnight

Three Alice Springs mayoral candidates have broken away from the pack in the count, but it will be almost a fortnight before residents find out who will take on the town’s top job.

THREE Alice Springs mayoral candidates have broken away from the pack in the count, but it will be almost a fortnight before residents find out who will be their first new mayor in over a decade.

Councillor and former Arid Lands chief executive Jimmy Cocking leads the polls with 30.3 per cent of first preference votes, which puts him 620 votes in front of the next candidate.

Councillors Matt Paterson and Eli Melky sit behind with 23.9 per cent and 19.8 per cent of the votes respectively.

Jimmy Cocking leads the mayoral race on first preference votes. Picture: Supplied

With all votes from election day counted and over 400 postal votes already tallied in Alice Springs, the NT Election Commission is not expecting many more votes will be received before the postal vote cut-off on September 10, a spokesman confirmed.

However, the distribution of preferences – which will only be tallied after the deadline – will be used to determine who takes on the town’s top job.

Mr Cocking said he was grateful to be in his current position, but acknowledged that the other candidates’ how-to-vote cards may work against him.

Matt Paterson says the he’ll await the outcome of the distribution of preference votes. Picture: Supplied.

“We ran a great campaign, and I’m feeling very supported by the community,” he said.

“At this stage, it’s too early to call … but regardless of the outcome of the mayoral election, I’m well and truly on council, and I’m looking forward to representing the community on the council in whatever form that takes.”

He said the vote count currently underway was like the “grand finals”, and he felt glad to be “sitting at number one on the ladder”.

Mr Paterson said he expected the first preference voting to fall in favour of his fellow councillor Mr Cocking.

“I was hoping to come second on primaries, and just be within reaching distance of Jimmy, which I am,” he said.

“It’s all just going to come down to preferences now.”

Long-time councillor Eli Melky has not been ruled out of the mayoral race by his opponents. Picture: Supplied.

Mr Paterson said it was no use relying on how other candidates had asked their supporters to preference when they vote.

“That’s only a guide … for the candidate telling the voter, but you don’t know what the voter does once they get in there, especially with local government,” he said.

“The scrutineers have seen some of the how-to-vote cards and (they say the votes) are all over the shop, so it’s just going to be waiting game until next Friday.

“Even Eli is still within reach … he could still win if he gets above me and my preferences flow his way, but without seeing them it’s really hard to gauge once the voter gets in there what they do, and with 10 (candidates) in the field it makes it hard.”

Following the postal vote cut-off of 12pm on September 10, a new mayor will be declared once a candidate receives more than 50 per cent of votes, which includes votes transferred between candidates in the order of the voters’ preferences.