Election update: Labor close to winning extra seat on Inner West Council

At the close of another day of counting following Saturday's local government election, Labor is leading the primary vote across the LGA with 35,872 or 38.9 per cent of votes so far, followed by the Greens with 33,119, or 35.9 per cent. The Greens are ahead of Labor in the primary vote in one ward, Stanmore-Damun. There has been a 7 per cent swing towards the Greens, and 5 per cent towards Labor.

In Ashfield, Cr Passas, formerly a Liberal but standing as an Independent after the party did not endorse inner west candidates, is polling behind Independent candidate and former Ashfield mayor Morris Mansour who, with just over 10 per cent of the vote so far, is also running short of winning a spot on council.

If Labor takes a second seat in Ashfield, it would increase its presence on the 15-member council from five to six councillors.

Mayoral aspirant Darcy Byrne, the sole candidate to declare outright his intention to run for mayor if elected, is optimistic Labor could secure a majority on the council.

"We are on track to form a Labor-led Inner West Council," said Cr Byrne, the former mayor who has retained his Balmain-Baludarri seat with 7106 votes so far, ahead of successful new Greens candidate Kobi Shetty on 6570.

"Our Local Labor team is coming first in four of the five wards and has the largest primary vote.

"The fact that we are in with a real shot of having two councillors elected to multiple wards shows that our positive policy agenda is supported by the community."

Results in the five inner west wards, which each have three representatives, will be officially declared from December 21 after the December 17 deadline for postal votes.

So far the Greens and Labor have secured one seat each in the five wards, giving them five seats apiece on the council. Incumbent Independents Pauline Lockie in Stanmore-Damun and John Stamolis in Balmain-Baludarri, also appear set to retain their places, securing the third and final seats in their respective wards.

Along with Ashfield, the third seat in Marrickville-Midjuburi and Leichhardt-Gulgadya wards are also yet to be clinched, remaining too close to call.

In Leichhardt, where incumbent former Liberal councillor and now Independent Vittoria Raciti is a strong chance for re-election, Labor is in front with 40.2 per cent of the primary vote.

Labor is leading the Greens by more than 1000 primary votes in Marrickville-Midjuburi, where sitting Independent councillor Vic Macri is strongly in the running for the third seat.

Greens campaign convenor Andrew Blake said it looked likely Labor would pick up a second seat in Ashfield, but that Independents were likely to win the final seats elsewhere. In that scenario, the final count on the council would be Labor 6, Greens 5 and Independents 4, compared with the previous council of Labor 5, Greens 5, Liberal 2 and Independent 3.

Mr Blake said the prospect of the Greens picking up a 6th seat was "not completely out of the picture, but it is unlikely". He said the Greens were "absolutely" pleased with their result so far: "We have got a swing towards us in all five wards," he said.

Cr Passas's loss in Ashfield means there will be at least eight new faces on the council, following a tumultuous four years of the first Inner West Council after the forced amalgamation of the former Marrickville, Leichhardt and Ashfield councils.

Seven of those newcomers who look certain to have seats come December 20 are Labor's Philippa Scott (Leichhardt), Mat Howard (Marrickville) and Chloe Smith (Stanmore), and the Greens' Dylan Griffiths (Ashfield), Kobi Shetty (Balmain), Justine Langford (Marrickville) and Liz Atkins (Stanmore).

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