“It seems like Yarra For All has done very well, but [it’s] hard to say until group B comes in,” said Ben Raue, election analyst and founder of the Tallyroom.
Group B votes are the smaller batch of postal ballots that arrived in the week after the postal deadline and are being counted this week. If a winner is not clear after group B, preferences will be counted.
Further north in Darebin, which takes in Northcote, Reservoir and Thornbury, Greens held three of nine council spots after the 2020 election.
But counting in this election so far indicates Green wins are only possible in two wards, while Labor is currently ahead in six.
Last election, the Greens elected 36 councillors across the state. This election, they ran 124 candidates and have so far called six wins; Lucas Maddock in Mount Alexander Shire, Alida McKern and Peter Castaldo in Banyule council, Isabella Do in Dandenong, Olivia Ball in the City of Melbourne and Merri-bek incumbent mayor Adam Pulford.
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The party has lost two council seats in Monash. Two former Greens councillors who sensationally quit the party earlier this year – Josh Fergeus and Anjalee de Silva – are set to keep their positions on council, but as independents.
The party is still in a competitive position in Merri-bek. In 2020, four Greens councillors were elected to the council. Apart from Pulford, four other Greens are still in close races; Jay Iwasaki, Liz Irvin, Ella Svensson and incumbent Angelica Panopoulos.
Meanwhile, in Boroondara, in the city’s east, there has been a major shift away from the Liberal Party to pro-environment “teal”-type independents in what one successful candidate has described as “a devastating rebuke of major party politics in local government”.
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Before this election, Liberal Party members or Liberal-leaning councillors made up a majority of the council, but now it appears just one Liberal will be left – current deputy mayor Felicity Sinfield, in Cotham ward.
Rob Baillieu, son of former Liberal premier Ted Baillieu, is on track to win Riversdale ward, with 46 per cent of the primary votes counted in Group A. Baillieu was a volunteer manager for Kooyong independent Monique Ryan in the federal election and is president of Voices of Kooyong.
Ballieu told The Age remaining group A primary vote counts for the council pointed to a wipe-out for the Liberal Party.
“It’s safe to say Boroondara’s climate is changing,” he said, describing many candidates who were ahead as “climate-action-positive candidates”.
Sophie Torney, who ran as a teal independent in the state election, will likely win Studley ward (taking in parts of Kew), with 44 per cent of the primary vote, pushing out current councillor and Liberal Nick Stavrou.
Other likely Boroondara winners are incumbent independent Victor Franco, who has previously identified with the teal movement, the Greens’ Wes Gault, independent Michael Nolan and former mayor and independent Chris Pattas.
A major structural change occurred this election, with all metropolitan councils – except for City of Melbourne – shifting to single-member wards.
The Greens have previously criticised the changes, suggesting they made it more difficult for candidates from minor parties such as the Greens to be elected.
With Tom Cowie and Sophie Aubrey
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