It could be any day now that the region will know who the new mayor of Rockhampton is. As of Wednesday afternoon 81.16 per cent of the vote has been counted with 45,359 tallied out of 55,885 registered voters. But with close to 2000 postal votes outstanding, counting has slowed.
Sitting councillor Tony Williams remains in the lead with 10,980 votes, accounting for 24.85 per cent. Russell Claus is next in line with 15.55 per cent of the vote from 6,873 votes. Chris Pineapple Hooper is coming third with 12.29 per cent of the vote, gaining 5,429 votes. According to Electoral Commission of Queensland data, 1828 postal votes are outstanding, which has slowed vote counting over the past few days.
UPDATE, SUNDAY 10AM: Tony Williams remains in the lead as almost 80 per cent of votes have been counted in the Rockhampton Regional Council mayoral vacancy by-election.
The latest data from the Electoral Commission of Queensland shows 44,649 votes have been counted out of 55,885.
Mr Williams now has 24.88 per cent of the votes with 10,810.
Holding second position is Russell Claus with 15.53 per cent of the votes with 6,748 votes.
Chris ‘Pineapple’ Hooper is in third with 12.30 per cent of the votes with 5,346 votes.
In fourth is Cherie Rutherford, gaining 10.19 per cent of the votes with 4,428 votes.
Donna Kirkland is in fifth position with 9.15 per cent of the votes with 3,977 votes.
Frontrunners emerge as vote counting for 17 candidates in Rockhampton by-election continues
SatSaturday 23
updated
WedWednesday 27
JanJanuary 2021 at 2:34am
Acting Mayor Neil Fisher and frontrunner Tony Williams were all smiles as counting began on Saturday night.
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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:
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
Around 55,000 central Queenslanders were sent to the polls on Saturday after the shock resignation of Margaret Strelow in November.
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