Benalla council vacancy to be filled via online countback

The Victorian Electoral Commission will hold a countback of all formal votes from the 2024 Benalla Rural City Council election to fill the vacancy.

Votes will be redistributed to candidates who were unsuccessful in 2024 but are still eligible to be elected.

Election Manager Anju Mehta said the countback is based on the proportional representation method of counting, which means candidates must achieve a proportion of votes known as a quota.

“The candidate who gets the quota will be elected,” Ms Mehta said.

“If no candidate reaches the quota, the candidate with the highest number of countback votes will be elected.”

Candidates and other interested parties can watch the countback online.

A link to join the countback will be available from 10am on Wednesday, December 3 at vec.vic.gov.au/