New councillor for Moreland City Council
Wednesday 23 March 2022
For immediate release
Monica Harte has been elected as a councillor for North-West Ward within Moreland City Council, after the Victorian Electoral Commission conducted a countback of votes at 10 am on Monday 21 March.
Deputy Electoral Commissioner Dana Fleming today declared the result after a countback of votes from the general election held in October 2020.
Only those candidates who were unsuccessful at the general election and who were still eligible to be elected were included in the countback process.
The extraordinary vacancy arose due to the resignation of Councillor Milad El-Halabi.
The vacancy was filled by a countback of all formal votes from the 2020 Moreland City Council, North-West Ward election. Immediately after that event the VEC applied to VCAT for an inquiry into the North-West Ward result. This was due to legitimate concerns that an unknown number of ballot papers for the ward had been fraudulently completed and lodged.
VCAT's inquiry into the original election is continuing and the VEC will shortly update VCAT on the outcome of the countback. The VEC continues to press for the inquiry to be resolved as soon as possible to provide certainty for the Moreland community and their elected representatives