BACK ALREADY?
Councillors axed in bully probe lead election race with 75% of votes counted
SACKED and former councillors are leading the charge in the Geelong council election race.
With more than 75 per cent of the primary vote counted at 6.30pm yesterday, sacked councillors Eddy Kontelj, Peter Murrihy, Ron Nelson and Bruce Harwood were all looking likely to be returned to office, with Lindsay Ellis just outside the top three in Bellarine.
Anthony Aitken, a former Corio and inaugural City of Greater Geelong councillor, was in pole position in Windermere ward with a whopping 33.9 per cent of primary votes and Lara resident, Kylie Grzybek, was in second place with 11.18 per cent of the vote.
David Withington, who stepped down from a senior role with land developer Bisinella to run for the council, is currently in third spot in Windermere, with 9.23 per cent of primary votes.
Windermere is the only ward with two councillors. Brownbill, Bellarine and Kardinia wards all have three.
Preferences are yet to be distributed and a final election result will not be known until this afternoon, more than a week after voting officially closed.
In Brownbill, Mr Kontelj had last night snared 25.12 per cent of primary votes, while Greens candidate Sarah Mansfield was sitting in second place on 15.94 per cent and Mr Murrihy on 14.49 per cent.
Bellarine ward candidate Stephanie Asher is the clear leader in her ward, with 24.98 per cent of first preference votes, followed by Drysdale community stalwart Anne Brackley with 11.58 per cent and humanitarian worker Jim Mason on 10.43 per cent.
Former councillor Mr Ellis was a close fourth in Bellarine last night, with 8.98 per cent of the primary vote.
In Kardinia, Mr Harwood, a former mayor and deputy mayor, had a healthy lead with 22.44 per cent of the vote and Mr Nelson was just behind on 20.18 per cent. For- mer Bendigo Bank manager Pat Murnane was sitting in third place with 12.86 per cent of the primary vote.
A huge voter turnout of around 80 per cent — the biggest in the modern era — took part in the poll, which is the first since the council was sacked and administrators appointed in April 2016.
Preferences from the large fields will play a key role in determining the final makeup of the council.
A total of 11 councillors will be elected across the four wards.
The mayor and deputy mayor will be chosen via an internal vote at a special council meeting on November 14. Final election results will be available on the Geelong Advertiser website this afternoon.