By Ethan Benedicto
More updates have come through with the early polling results of the local council elections, with each ward in the north offering nothing short of big leads and tight races.
These numbers have been taken from the VEC polling building at Cranbourne Shopping Centre, with most counts stated to have been finalised between 4pm to 7pm on 30 October.
Take note that these numbers are the final tally for the Group A count, with the extraction of Group B’s ballot papers to begin on Wednesday 6 November from 8:45am.
This means that the councillor seat for each ward is still in limbo, with the current numbers to be detailed below, especially wards with a closer margin, to be approached dubiously by all parties on the official candidacy.
Akoonah Ward’s Samuel Dennison holds a solid position over the other candidates, with 3666 first-preference votes as of 4pm on 30 October.
Similar to yesterday’s reports, Scott William Dowling still holds the second position, with 3038 votes.
Dianne Pagliuca is still third, this time with 2249 votes, while Mush Rahaman remains at fourth with 2134.
Kushal Shah has 1614 votes, while Patrick Ferdinands has 982; the total votes counted sit at 13,683.
Candidates, in general, have decided to not comment on the Group A results, putting emphasis on the preferential voting system’s process of elimination, and that the game is still anyone’s until the finale on Thursday 7 November.
Next door at Grevillea, Carmen Powell has taken the lead with 2552 first-preference votes, with John Ternel tailing close with 2451.
Stephen Matulec isn’t far, however, with 2173, followed by Dave Perry with 2049.
Bernie Postma has 1833 votes, Stephen Capon with 1101, Haroon Sayed with 482 and Sinfree Chirunga with 476.
The ward sits with a Group A total of 14,522 votes counted.
Casuarina Ward still has Kim Ross at a commanding lead with 2896 first-preference votes, with the second place being Rex Flannery at 1742.
After Flannery, the competition becomes tight, with Lyndon Samuel at 1634, Jane Foreman at 1633 and Morteza Ali at 1501.
Bassir Qadiri holds 1114 votes, Suzanne Carmody with 1101, Rex Lazaros with 1038 and Michael Kelaart with 526.
Casuarina’s total vote count is at 14,042.
In the northwest, Kalora Ward has Melinda Ambros in a strong lead, with 3362 first-preference votes.
She’s followed by former councillor Brian Oates with 2373, who in turn is followed by Damien Sawyer with 2047.
Zabi Mazoori is sitting with 1896, then Jafri Luwanga Katagara with 1409, Duc Nguyen with 1012, Peterine Smulders with 934, Fred Jover with 688 and Afroz Ahmed with 573.
The total count for Kalora in Group A 14,294.
Neighbouring Waratah Ward sees Stefan Koomen have everyone in the rearview mirror in the north with 5624 first-preference votes.
Coming in second is Jamel Kaur Singh with 2787, Nasser Yawari with 1953, Ezatullah Alam with 1635 and Burak Dilbaz with 785.
Waratah’s total Group A count is 12,784.
Dillwynia Ward in the east holds a tight margin, only after Anthony Walter heading with 2623 first-preference leads.
Behind him is Joe Pang with 1970 votes, then David Bissell at 1520.
Gurpreet Gill holds 1444, Baljinder Dhaliwal with 1200, Jaz Masuta with 1116 and Champika Hewa Maddumage with 807.
These numbers are not final, with the second round of counts being finalised in by the end of Friday 1 November.
As for Dillwynia, the count sits at 11,797.
Breaking it down further, the process of elimination for a ward, if a certain candidate does not accumulate more than 50 per cent of first-preference votes, means that the candidate with the lowest amount of said first-preference votes will be eliminated from the count.
The ballots of the eliminated candidate are then going to be examined for the second preference and redistributed accordingly to the remaining candidates.
Votes are then recalculated, and the process will continue if a candidate still does not reach over 50 per cent of the votes.
