By Ethan Benedicto
Dave Perry has taken the seat of councillor in the northern ward of Grevillea, after a close battle with tough competitors and tight numbers.
With an unexpected turn, Perry came back from placing fourth with the first-preference votes to duking it out with Carmen Powell to the last numbers, and winning.
Perry began the race with 2451 votes, lagging behind Stephen Matulec with 2575, John Ternel with 2809 and Powell with a commanding 3074 votes.
In hindsight, Perry “didn’t think it was going to happen”.
“I kind of moved on, whatever happened would have happened.”
However, after mounting up 8758 total votes at the end, he is keen on getting started with his duties and delivering on his campaign’s goals.
”What I’m looking to do is find out what we can do for aged care which is very important to me, I’d like to have it reinstated in council if we can, and the other thing is I’d like to build a pump track somewhere in the north for the kids.
“Of course, the next thing is protecting the Green Wedge up in Narre Warren North and Harkaway,” he said.
This win did not come easily, with Powell as the voters’ initial clear favourite, as she tacked on more second-preference votes than Perry, Ternel, and Matulec throughout the first three excluded candidates.
To be more precise, Powell, through Sinfree Chirunga’s 578 ballot papers received 180 votes; Perry received 65.
With a transfer of 665 ballot papers from Haroon Sayed, Powell received 158; Perry received 105.
At the third round, through 1425 ballot papers from Stephen Capon, Powell notched an additional 261, lagging behind Matulec who received 398; Perry had 240.
By the end of the third round, the total for the candidates in order was Powell with 3673, Matulec with 3142, Ternel with 3054 and Perry with 2861.
It was at the fourth round, with 2058 ballot papers from David Parr, that the tide turned in Perry’s favour.
Here, he piled on 904 second-preference votes, while Powell only had 409.
To Powell, she had to “accept that it is what it is”.
“It was certainly disappointing to be so close, to be 272 votes short, but that’s the result and I can only go on.
“I’ll still be working on being part of the community and advocating for those who are vulnerable and need support.
“But of course, I’m grateful that people actually thought I was worthy to do it, to get those votes, I’m very respectful of the candidates who came so close as well,” she said.
The fourth rounds’ totals had Powell still at first with 4082 votes, but then, from fourth place, Perry had bumped up to second with 3765.
From here, Ternel – with 3229 – was trailing behind Matulec with 3463, but after receiving 851 second votes from Bernie Postma during the fifth round, was able to bounce back with a total of 4080.
Ternel would still come short, however, as Perry, with 4456 during the same round had his votes riding on Powell’s coattails who had 4749 votes.
Despite his efforts, Ternel was bounced on the sixth round after totalling 4911 votes; he trailed behind the second-preference votes from Matulec with 831, while Powell gained 1706 and Perry gained 1422.
As part of the final three, Ternel said “I have to respect the electoral process and I was surprised”.
“Given that I was coming ahead with the primaries I thought I had won the campaign, but at the end of the day, I have to respect the preferencing.
“A lot of people have said to me that they thought I was the right guy for the job, and I do think I am because I’ve got all the core values and best interests of the community at heart.”
Reflecting on his campaign process, Ternel said that it was exhausting but also fulfilling.
“I did everything I could to go out there and meet and greet people, so next time, if we have longer lead times, I could spend more time engaging and working with people,” he said.
The seventh round dealt the final blow to Powell’s lead, where Ternel’s 4911 ballot papers saw 2880 second-preference votes for Perry, while only 2031 went to Powell.
Prior to this, Powell still had the lead with a progressive total of 6455, while Perry had 5878, but after accounting for Ternel’s votes, the winner was clear.
The finale saw Perry edge out Powell with 272 votes with a total of 8758 while Powell finished with 8486.
