Final results won’t be in until Friday evening, as it will take until then for the preferences to be allocated, but it looks as though the nature of Blayney council has changed forever.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Gone are the days of council being a group of independents, as Country Labor Party candidate Scott Denton, although cautious in his analysis, looks as though his first campaign will prove successful.
“It’s still too early to call, but democracy was certainly the winner,” he said.
“We had a rich tapestry of candidates across the political spectrum, but the preferences have been shotgun sprayed across the whole field.”
That lack of a distinct preference flow is also playing on the mind of candidate Bruce Reynolds.
“Preferences have gone all over the place,” he said.
“I’ve heard that there is absolutely no distinct preferences flow and it would appear that most people haven’t followed the how to votes if the candidates had them listed.”
Former councillor John Newstead, who also didn’t have preferences on his handouts, said that he too was waiting for the official announcement on Friday, but was feeling confident.
“On Saturday night I was thinking that Delanie and I were pretty close and that with preferences she may get her over the line, but when I saw the pre-poll numbers come through I felt pretty confident after that,” he said.
“I’m also surprised that I did almost as well as Bruce Reynolds who worked really hard during the campaign.”
At midday on Wednesday, after postal votes were counted, the first preference results are as follows:
- Scott Ferguson – 1,322
- Allan Ewin – 598
- David Kingham – 445
- Scott Denton – 417
- Bruce Reynolds – 391
- John Newstead – 386
- David Somervaille – 309
- Delanie Sky – 208
- Nyree Reynold – 137
- Anastasia Webster-Hawes – 68