Council
26 September, 2024
Corangamite wards to be largely uncontested
MOST of the Corangamite Shire will not be heading to the ballot boxes next month after six of the seven council wards received only one nomination.
The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) has announced the only nominations received across six of the shire’s seven wards was those of the incumbent councillors in the Lake Keilambete Ward (Geraldine Conheady), Cooriemungle Ward (Jamie Vogels), Gnotuk Ward (Ruth Gstrein), Lake Elingamite Ward (Kate Makin), Leura Ward (Laurie Hickey) and Mt Elephant Ward (Nick Cole).
The Tandarook Ward is the lone ward which will vote after two candidates nominated, with Cobden’s Cath Jenkins to contest the seat alongside incumbent Jo Beard.
The VEC states if, at the close of nominations, the number of candidates is equal to or less than the number of vacancies for any election, this results in an uncontested election.
The election manager will declare these candidates elected on or after election day and provide public notice of their election.
A VEC spokesperson said residents in uncontested wards will receive more information over the coming weeks.
“What occurs in that circumstance (uncontested ward) is that that person will be provisionally be the person that will represent that ward,” the VEC spokesperson said.
“In terms of the voters that are eligible to vote in those wards, they will receive a leaflet from the VEC in October to explain they do not need to vote as there is only one candidate standing for their ward and one position available.
“For six of the seven wards in the Corangamite Shire Council, that will be the case.
“For the one ward, Tandarook, there will be a contested election.”
The VEC released a statement last week confirming 42 of the 466 elections across Victoria would be uncontested, but stated there had also been a rise in candidates.
“Following the close of nominations and ballot draws for this year’s local council elections, 2231 candidates nominated for 646 council vacancies in 466 separate elections,” the statement read.
“The number of candidates this year is higher than the 2186 candidates who nominated for 622 councillor vacancies in 298 separate elections at the 2020 council elections.”