By XAVIER SMERDON
THE State Government may review the use of proportional representation in council elections as Wyndham residents expressed their outrage and confusion at the current system.
Social media sites have been abuzz with voters furious at how much preference deals affected the outcome of the Wyndham Council election.
According to the Victorian Electoral Commission, first time candidate Kylie Cowie, who was running in the Iramoo Ward, received 3639 votes, the fifth highest amount of first preference votes across all wards, or 16.97 per cent of the vote.
Ms Cowie was only beaten on first preference votes by incumbent councillors Shane Bourke, Bob Fairclough, Heather Marcus and new candidate Peter Gibbons.
Despite polling so well, the fact that Ms Cowie was not preferenced favourably by many candidates meant that she missed out on being elected.
Gautam Gupta however, who was running in the Chaffey Ward, ranked 30th overall in terms of first preference votes with 902, or just 3.4 per cent of first preference votes in the Chaffey ward, still managed to be elected second.
Mr Gupta received the least amount of first preference votes out of all elected candidates in the western suburbs. He also received the lowest percentage of first preference votes of successful candidates in Wyndham, Melton, Hobsons Bay and Maribyrnong.
Mr Gupta was preferenced first by five other candidates, none of whom were elected.
Ms Cowie said she did not hold any grudges towards candidates that relied heavily upon preference deals.
“I am disappointed by it. According to the community I was the one that they wanted,” Ms Cowie told Star.
“I do think that the people that got in definitely deserve it though.
“My grandfather was my campaign manager and a lot of people have come up to him and said they can’t understand how I didn’t get in when I received so many votes.”
Peter Maynard received 700 votes less than Ms Cowie but was elected, a fact Ms Cowie said was fair.
“I don’t have any grudges against the person who overtook me on preferences,” she said.
“He (Mr Maynard) deserves to be there and I’ve spoken with him since.”
The Minister for Local Government, Jeanette Powell, said a review of the use of proportional representation was not off the table.
“I am aware of concerns and complaints concerning the recently completed local government elections,” Ms Powell said.
“I will be considering information from a range of organisations, including the Victorian Electoral Commission and Local Government Victoria, before a decision on any review is made.”
A spokesperson from the VEC said he was not aware of any formal complaints from residents regarding the results of the Wyndham Council election.
