VOTERS wishing for fewer candidates on the November 26 Brimbank ballots have had their wish granted.
Unlike the 2003 elections, when 95 candidates ran, this time around only 50 have nominated.
Victorian Electoral Commission returning officer Ron Ritchie presided last Wednesday over the drawing of candidates’ names for positioning on the voting ballot paper.
Most sitting councillors will be placed in the middle or on the end of their ballot papers. Only councillor Margaret Giudice is higher in Horsehoe Bend.
Cr Giudice said she was happy being placed second from the top, especially when looking at where the other councillors were drawn.
The two most fiercely contested wards will be Grasslands and Horseshoe Bend.
Grasslands Ward features 17 candidates running while the Horseshoe Bend Ward has 14.
Councillor Sam David described the large number of candidates in Grasslands and Horseshoe Bend as “crazy”.
The Labor Party again declined to endorse candidates in Brimbank.
Harvester Ward features 10 candidates running, while in Taylors Ward nine candidates nominated.
Councillor Dorothy Costa is retiring after 16 years on the councils of the City of Brimbank and the former Shire of Keilor. And councillor Jessica Minutoli will not recontest her position after one stint as a councillor.
Changes made by the VEC at the beginning of the year will result in Brimbank votors electing two extra councillors, lifting the total to 11.
The present nine wards of Casuarina, Derrimut, Furlong, Glengala, Kororoit, McKay, Overnewton, Padley and Robertson are now amalgamated into Taylors, Grasslands, Harvester and Horseshoe Bend wards.
The VEC said reducing the number of wards would improve representation and cut councillors’ workload.
Voters in Grasslands, Harvester and Taylors wards will each be represented by three councillors, while Horsehoe Bend voters will be represented by two. By moving to multimember wards, the VEC has also changed the voting system from preferential to proportional representation.
Predictions that proportional representation could end the ALP’s stranglehold on council, by reducing the number of votes needed by a candidate to secure a council seat, seem unlikely with a large number of candidates being ALP members.
However, with the Greens fielding two candidates for the first time in a Brimbank council election, some have suggested it is not impossible that an independent voice may be heard there for a change.
Voters may call the VEC 9311 1644 for information on postal and early voting.
