By Lauren Henry

It will be a new-look Horsham Rural City Council for the next four years, with just one incumbent councillor, Ian Ross, likely to return.

Early counting shows Cam McDonald will be the councillor for May Park Ward and Dean O’Loughlin councillor for Green Park.

They join Rebecca Sluggett, Kalimna Ward, and Brian Klowse, Wyn Wyn Ward, who were both elected unopposed in their respective wards.

Voting in the other two wards – Horsham North and Oatlands – is not as clear cut, but it is likely to see Todd Wilson and Angela Munn elected, meaning six out of the seven will be first-time councillors.

The council is also set to have a distinct farming flavour, with several councillors from an agricultural background.

Official results will be declared on Friday, with councillors to take an oath ahead of a statutory meeting to elect a mayor on November 21.

The new Horsham council will have its first council meeting on November 25.

Ballot papers returned from the general mail-out that have passed declaration checking and have no other votes associated with the voter, classified as Group A votes, were counted last week, with Group B votes – the remaining ballot papers that show envelopes received during the postal vote receipt period – are being counted this week.

With 1474, 70.16 per cent, of the votes counted in May Park Ward, Cam McDonald had 73.25 per cent of the votes, ahead of Les Power on 26.75 per cent.

In Green Park Ward, 1720, 75.87 per cent, of the votes showed Dean O’Loughlin with 67.71 per cent, ahead of Brian Basham 32.29 per cent.

Pine Lake Ward’s 1580 votes, 76.81 per cent, showed Ian Ross with 64.06 per cent; well ahead of Toby Haynes 19.78 per cent and Michael Bond 16.16 per cent.

For Horsham North Ward, with 1539, 67.83 per cent, of the votes counted, results so far show Todd Wilson with 40.33 per cent; Kathy Ross 30.83 per cent; and Claudia Haenel 28.84 per cent.

In Oatlands Ward, with 1483, 69.33 per cent, of the votes counted, Angela Munn was on 48.4 per cent; Dylan Hesselberg 36.44 per cent; and David Bowe 15.16 per cent.

Results timelines will vary across individual councils, but there will be a clearer picture on each council election by Friday.

In Ararat, early votes showed experienced councillor Jo Armstrong with a clear lead, ahead on 1548 votes.

Most recent mayor Bob Sanders is also likely to be re-elected, with 623 votes, along with newcomers Teli Kaur, 638 votes, and Luke Preston, 560 votes.

Others to follow are Peter Joyce 510 votes; Amanda Mead 421; Bill Waterston 419; Rob Armstrong 281; Daryl Scherger 255; Ozy Kokcu 200; Peter Beales 157; and Fiona Tipping 112.

West Wimmera provisional counting shows first-time candidate Helen Hobbs is likely to be elected, currently on 589 votes, with 2194 out of a total enrolment of 3017 votes counted. The other candidates: Tim Meyer 478 votes; Jodie Pretlove 438; Tom Houlihan 263; Richard Hicks 254; and Bruce Meyer 172.

Results in West Wimmera will be formally declared at 3.30pm on Thursday at Edenhope and District Community Centre.

In Hindmarsh, Ron Ismay and Rosie Barker were elected uncontested in West Ward; while three candidates are running for two positions in both the East Ward and North Ward.

Provisional voting for the Northern Grampians Shire Council election will be available at some stage between today and Friday.

Yarriambiack Shire Council election was declared on October 28, as all three wards were uncontested at the close of nominations and the six candidates have been elected unopposed. 

Melinda Keel and Corinne Heintze are the Dunmunkle Ward councillors; Andrew McLean and Chris Lehmann are the councillors for Hopetoun Ward; and Karly Kirk and Kyle Zanker are the Warracknabeal Ward councillors.

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