UPDATE:
The final form of Georges River Council appears to be six Labor councillors, five Liberal, three independents and the Kogarah Residents Association’s Leesha Payor.
Independent Nancy Liu narrowly beat Labor’s Dominic Sin in Hurstville Ward, who was Vince Badalati’s number two.
It’s still a close battle in Mortdale Ward between Independent Lou Konjarski and Labor’s Frances Greene, wife of Kevin Greene who has romped home in neighbouring Peakhurst Ward.
Frances Greene, who was number two on Warren Tegg’s ticket, is currently trailing Lou Konjarski by 300 votes.
At the moment it is looking likely that Mr Konjarski will get in but the final result won’t be known until later in the week when postal voting and pre-polls are counted.
The new council sees the return of some familiar faces including former Hurstville mayors Vince Badalati (Labor) and Con Hindi (Liberal), former Kogarah mayor Nick Katris (Labor) and Kogarah councillor Kathryn Landsberry (Labor), and independent Sandy Grekas who was a former Labor councillor on Hurstville Council.
Counting is continuing.
EARLIER
Labor will hold the balance of power in the new Georges River Council.
The likely configuration of the new council will be seven Labor, five Liberals, and independents Sandy Greakas, Lou Konjarski and Leesha Pryor of the Kogarah Residents Association.
“We are most likely looking at a Labor mayor,” one commentator said.
The swing against the Liberals across the board in Georges River was 10 per cent.
The big winners of the day were former Georges River MP Kevin Greene in Peakhurst Ward and Independent Sandy Grekas in Blakehurst Ward.
“Labor smashed it, with Kevin Greene scoring 43.09 per cent of the vote in Peakhurst Ward,” Steve McMahon said.
At 9pm last night the figures were:
Blakehurst Ward:
Liberals Sam Elmir 42.57 per cent, Labor’s Katherine Landsberry 28.36 per cent, Independent Sandy Grekas 27.74 per cent.
Hurstville Ward:
Labor’s Vince Badalati 43.50 per cent, Liberal’s Christine Wu 31.40 per cent, Independent Nancy Liu 12.65 per cent.
Kogarah Bay Ward:
Labor’s Nick Katris 39.87 per cent, Liberal’s Stephen Agius 34.56 per cent and Kogarah Resident’s Association Leesha Payor 23.21 per cent.
Mortdale Ward:
Labor’s Warren Tegg 37.99 per cent, Liberal’s Con Hindi 29 per cent, Independent Lou Konjarski 17.300 per cent.
Peakhurst Ward:
Kevin Greene 43.09 per cent, Liberal’s Rita Kastanias 32.79 per cent, The Greens Anne Wagstaff 13.59 per cent
EARLIER:
The polling booths have closed and counting has started to tally the votes that will determine the look of the inaugural Georges River Council.
While candidates are nervously waiting for the results, campaign workers were relieved to see the end of what had been a hard campaign which had seen allegations of threats and assaults, with several incidents now under police investigation.
The atmosphere at the polling booth at the Hurstville Community Centre this afternoon showed campaign workers were enthusiastic and polite.
But it was a calm end to a campaign that had flared into anger with reports of police being called on several occasions to the pre-poll at Hurstville.
Liberal candidate Christina Wu said it had been a tough campaign, saying she had received threats at the Hurstville pre-poll earlier in the week which were under police investigation.
Independent candidate Nancy Liu said her running mate Gang Wang had been assaulted at the Hurstville pre-poll and had to go to hospital to have his arm x-rayed.
Labor candidate Dominic Sin he people could have conducted themselves more civilly.
“The campaign was a bit rough,” he said.
“There were certain teams that crossed the lies and pushed the boundaries.
“There was a fair bit of aggravation. Police were called to the pre-poll a couple of times.”
The atmosphere over at Kogarah this afternoon was the opposite perhaps reflecting the culture of the former Kogarah Council compared with the former Hurstville Council.
One seasoned campaigner at the polling booth at Kogarah High School said he had never seen such a quiet election day.
“We’ve had verbal abuse at the polling booth in the past but this time everything is very calm,” he said.
Campaign workers at the polling station at the Kogarah Uniting Church also said it had been a steady and calm day after an initial rush in the morning.
Scrutineers hope that the outline of the new council may firm up as early at 9pm.
