Local government election votes continue to be counted as results have lead to several surprises, including incumbent mayors losing the race.
Local government election votes continue to be counted as results have lead to several surprises, including incumbent mayors losing the race.
The Western Australian Electoral Commission expects to call final results and declarations by the end of today, with counting of the votes cast in the 2025 local government elections over the weekend almost complete.
City of Perth deputy lord mayor Bruce Reynolds, who has been acting lord mayor for several months, will remain in the job until October 2027.
He won the lord mayoral race with 1,422 votes, short of the absolute majority needed but was the most after all the preferences were counted.
Mr Reynolds has been acting lord mayor since his predecessor Basil Zempilas was elected to state parliament in May.
Incumbent councillor Clyde Bevan was unsuccessful in both his lord mayor and councillor bids.
Mr Bevan was elected to City of Perth council in 2020, following the overhaul of the local government amid a parliamentary inquiry.
His fellow councillor Steven Wellard was also not re-elected in the election.
Incumbent councillors Liam Gobbert and Viktor Ko, who also ran for lord mayor, extend their term to October 2029.
Despite losing the lord mayor race, Chris Patton has been elected to council for a four-year term.
Newcomers to the City of Perth council include Adam Pacan and Lisa Ma, with their terms to end in 2029 and 2027 respectively.
Western suburbs
This year’s results mark a changing of the guard at the Town of Claremont, with long-time mayor Jock Barker losing to Peter Telford.
Mr Barker has been on council for 24 years and mayor for 16 years.
If he was successful this year, it would have been his fifth successive term as mayor.
However, Mr Telford won the race with 1,582 votes against Mr Barker’s 1,161 votes.
Mr Telford was a Town of Claremont councillors from 2019 to 2023.
Town of Cottesloe deputy mayor Melissa Harkins will step us as mayor of the coastal council, after gaining more votes than her sole opponent Kevin Morgan.
Mr Morgan was a former mayor at Town of Cottesloe from 2005 to 2013 but has been unsuccessful in his subsequent efforts to return to council.
Incumbent Cottesloe mayor Lorraine Young will no longer be the head of council but will continue to be an elected member, having renominated herself as a councillor and receiving enough votes.
Metropolitan
In the City of Fremantle, Hannah Fitzhardinge failed to keep her position as mayor, with her fellow elected member Ben Lawver winning the race.
Ms Fitzhardinge was elected mayor in October 2021 after serving as a councillor for five years.
Mr Lawver received 4,441 votes against the 3,589 cast for Ms Fitzhardinge, once preferences were counted.
City of Fremantle deputy mayor Jenny Archibald failed to garner enough votes in her bid as mayor and without renominating herself for a council seat, she will no longer be an elected member.
All three Goodenough family members vying for local government spots have failed to receive enough votes in the biggest metropolitan councils in the state.
Former Moore MP Ian Goodenough lost the mayoral race to incumbent City of Joondalup councillor Daniel Kingston, who will be Albert Jacob’s successor.
The WAEC has counted the votes but has yet to declare the results and final preference tally for the formal declaration.
At the biggest local government in Western Australia, City of Stirling, former mayor Giovanni Italiano was unsuccessful in his bid for another crack as councillor of the Osborne ward.
Mr Italiano was elected mayor in 2013 but lost the 2019 local government election.
Incumbent councillor Teresa Olow retained her spot in the Osborne ward, winning against Mr Italiano, Mr Goodenough’s cousin Sean Goodenough, federal MP Matt Keogh policy adviser Ben Riley, Health Consumers Council board member Tina Shah and former Senator-elect Wayne Dropulich.
Clyde Goodenough ran unsuccessfully in Wanneroo, going against deputy mayor James Rowe, Family First candidate for the 2017 WA election Tam Nguyen, and Rottnest Channel Swim Association executive Josh McCleery in the city’s South Ward.
Mr Rowe retains his spot in council, extending his term as councillor to 2029.
