First results from Darebin and Whittlesea by-elections obtained by 6 News
- Leonardo Puglisi
- Aug 6
- 2 min read
Updated: Aug 12
Voting figures are now known for North-West Ward and Lalor Ward.
The first results for two by-elections for Melbourne councils are now known.
Generally, local election results during the counting process are not published online by the VEC, but they can be obtained by scrutineers or through the VEC publishing them in-person at offices.
In Darebin's North-West Ward, independent candidate Angela Villella is ahead in the contest to replace late councillor Gaetano Greco, with Labor second and the Victorian Socialists third.
The Greens are sixth out of seven candidates, losing around 5% of the vote from the 2024 election.
Villella appears to be in a good position to win, with strong preference flows expected in what will probably end up as an independent vs Labor preference count.
UPDATE 11 AUG: A smaller batch of 1357 new votes (compared to the original figures on 6 August) has given Socialist candidate Cat Rose an of 1.2% compared to the earlier figures, although there have been fairly minimal changes across the board.
In Whittlesea's Lalor Ward, where the 2024 results were voided over suspected fraud, Labor ex-councillor Stevan Kozmevski is leading a large pack of candidates with a 23.1% primary vote.
Independent candidate Ellen McNaught, who ended up just missing out on defeating Kozmevski after preferences in 2024, is down 20.5% to currently sit fourth.
Notably, Victorian Socialists candidate Omar Hassan is sitting second, giving him a chance of finishing in the two-candidate-preferred chance (and even a not-impossible chance of victory, although Kozmevski is expected to receive decent preference flows).
We'll continue to update results as they become known.
