Results could be in by tomorrow afternoon

COUNTING of the final ballots in the Greater Shepparton City Council election recommences this morning, with final results anticipated as early as late afternoon tomorrow, Thursday, November 5.

As of Friday, candidate and former mayor, Kim O’Keeffe, was the clear front runner, ahead by nearly 1000 votes, followed by new faces Rob Priestly and Shane Sali.

Candidates Greg James, Fern Summer, and Seema Abdullah were following in strong positions.

Anthony Brophy, Sam Spinks and Geoff Dobson were also in the running, rounding out the top nine with more than 27,000 votes counted.

Dinny Adem and Ben Ladson were just outside the top nine, meaning they could be relying on preference flows to reach the quota required to be elected.

Candidates Royden James, Zahra Haydar Big, Shelley Sutton, Andrew Bock, Allan Turner, and Steve Neff were well behind.

Vote counting was paused over the weekend and for yesterday’s Melbourne Cup Public Holiday, with up to 10,000 remaining ballot packs still to be processed.

17 candidates stood for the nine seats available on Council. Four incumbent councillors did not seek re-election, meaning the new-look Council could have up to four new faces.