Extract from ABC News
A councillor who has been in local government for 16 years is among three frontrunners to become Rockhampton's new mayor as voting continues from a record-breaking field of 17 candidates.
Key points:
- About 80 per cent of votes have been counted in the Rockhampton mayoral by-election
- Councillor Tony Williams is in the lead, but does not want to claim victory prematurely
- March 2020 election runner-up Chris 'Pineapple' Hooper is happy with the results so far
Fifty five thousand central Queenslanders were sent to the polls on Saturday after the shock resignation of Margaret Strelow in November.
About 80 per cent of ballot papers have been tallied in the unofficial preliminary count.
Councillor Tony Williams is in the lead with about 25 per cent of the vote, followed by Russell Claus with almost 16 per cent and Chris 'Pineapple' Hooper with about 12 per cent.
Cr Williams said he was happy with the results so far, but was cautious about claiming an early victory given the number of candidates.
"It's a strong indication that the numbers are there and they're increasing," he said.
"I've had lots of text messages and heaps of congratulations, but I don't want to call it at this stage.
"With 17 candidates it could still change with preferences so we'll just sit back and wait and see how that plays out."
The councillor has been at Rockhampton Regional Council for 16 years.
"People vote with their heads and having someone with experience really was something that I was feeling during the campaign," he said.
"You could just sort of feel there was an undertone there where people were looking for someone that's been in local government and had that experience."
Cr Williams said the earliest he would expect a result is this afternoon, but it could take longer.
"They're doing the primaries again today, having a recount just to make sure that those numbers are accurate that were counted last night," he said.
"Hopefully by this afternoon they should start to give us a better indication as they do the pre-polls and the booths numbers."
Voters 'stick it up them'
The March 2020, election runner-up Chris 'Pineapple' Hooper almost became mayor but a retrospective amendment to the Local Government Act in December took the mayoralty away from him.
"Well it is what it is. It will be interesting, it might take a couple of days for the numbers to come through," he said.
"We are quite happy and the main thing is that other people from around Australia, it is good for the environmental movement to get this up and about a bit and encouraging other people to keep on going.
"We'll just go with the flow — we haven't got any scrutineers on board or anything like that. We'll just see what happens I think — that's the best thing."
Mr Hooper said a lot of residents were unhappy with how the State Government handled the legislative change last year which forced the by-election.
"A lot of people were angry and they wanted to get back at them, or stick it up them," he said.
"It was that — and then there were people supporting me environmentally — but it is hard to say, I got more [comments] the other way saying they just wanted to get back at the government."
Russell Claus was proud to be among the leading pack given the high profile of his opponents.
"My biggest challenge has been, not having that name-recognition," he said.
"I've gathered a growing list of supporters. But I hope it's enough to get me over the line."
Final declaration possibly days away
The Electoral Commission Queensland said it may take some time to determine the outcome.
Commissioner Pat Vidgen said the count would take time to be finalised given the large number of candidates and optional preferential voting.
"Some electors may have chosen to preference all 17 of the candidates on their ballot paper," he said.
"A final declaration is only made when the outcome is mathematically certain and this may not be possible until after the deadline for the return of postal votes on Tuesday 2 February."
Graeme Orr, a professor of law and politics at the University of Queensland, said preferences would continue to play a crucial role in the outcome.
"[Councillor Williams] is in poll position because he's a fair way in front and with an enormous ballot paper and with not many candidates recommending preferences," he said.
The professor said it was "unlikely" the frontrunners would change but he could not rule it out.
"It would be silly to say [for certain] but it would be a bit unusual given we don't know [if many voters used preferences]," he said.
"The electoral commission has to wait until nearly all the votes are counted to know in which order to exclude the lowly candidates."
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