Three-way race for Alice Springs mayor

PREFERENCES will be crucial in determining who will win the Alice Springs mayoral race, with no clear frontrunner emerging on Saturday night in the Red Centre.

As of 9.41pm Saturday, Jimmy Cocking had won the most votes (2821), representing 31 per cent of the primary vote.

Mr Cocking, who has been a resident in Alice Springs for over a decade, was followed by Matt Paterson (2238) and Eli Melky (1832), with all three now reliant on preferences to take them above 50 per cent.

The current Alice Springs mayor Damien Ryan did not run for re-election, and has instead been preselected by the Country Liberal Party to run in the vast federal electorate of Lingiari at the next federal election, due next year.

Mr Ryan has spent over 13 years in local government, being elected mayor in 2008.

Outgoing Alice Springs Deputy Mayor Jacinta Price has also secured top spot on the CLP’s senate ticket.

As the frontrunners in this election, Mr Cocking, Mr Melky and Mr Paterson all served as councillors under Mr Ryan.

The winner of the mayoral race won’t be known until the final preference counts is tabulated by the Northern Territory Electoral Commission on September 10.