By Ethan Benedicto
The early provisional results for select wards in The City of Casey council elections are in, as the wards look to tally up the final numbers for November.
It is important to note that these are the numbers as of 30 October, the total detrimental tally has yet to be decided and is still subject to change.
Among the early leaders are Samuel Dennison and Scott William Dowling in Akoonah Ward, Michelle Crowther and Anthony Lake (Cranbourne Gardens) and John Ternel and Carmen Powell (Grevillea).
Former councillors Lynette Pereira and Wayne Smith are voting strongly in River Gum Ward, while former deputy mayor Damien Rosario is well back.
In Casuarina Ward, Kim Ross is well ahead of the field including ex-deputy mayor Rex Flannery. Indepedent Melinda Ambros (Kalora) and ALP member Stefan Koomen (Waratah) are also well in the lead.
On very early figures, former Casey councillor Gary Rowe is ahead in Correa Ward, with neck-and-neck tussles in Tooradin and Kowan.
As it stood on 11:50am, Samuel Dennison leads the fray in Akoonah Ward, with a total of 1411 first preference votes, with Scott William Dowling following closely with 1191.
Dianne Pagliuca has 859, Mush Rahaman with 820, Kushal Shah with 607 and Patrick Ferdinands with 369.
Akoonah Ward’s count is currently sitting at 5257 votes and is at 39.73 per cent completion.
For Grevillea Ward, as of 11:57am, John Ternel is leading with 639 first-preference votes, with Carmen Powell at the tail at 601 votes.
Stephen Matulec holds 546 votes, with Dave Perry at 527; Bernie Postma has 449, David Parr with 342, Stephen Capon with 285, Sinfree Chirunga with 144 and Haroon Sayed with 123.
Grevillea Ward’s count is currently sitting at 3646 votes and is at 24.98 per cent completion.
Cranbourne Gardens Ward is holding some big numbers as of 1.37pm, with Michelle Crowther ahead with 2609 first-preference votes.
She is followed by Anthony Lake with 1848, Tamas Kapitany with 1457, Jo Muir with 762, Blessing Nhliziyo with 580 and Mary Beth Melton with 547.
Cranbourne Gardens Ward is currently sitting at a total of 7803 votes and is at 58 per cent completion.
Kowan Ward is holding a tight race so far as of 11:12am, with Kasuni Mendis just ahead with 667 first-preference votes.
On her tail is Bernard Brian Carr with 662 votes, and just behind is Christine Skrobo with 649.
Shane Taylor sits with 581, Jawad Erfani with 253, Joby George with 208, Gagan Bumrah with 106 and Raj Nayak with 93.
Kowan Ward currently has a total of 3219 votes and is at 24.74 per cent completion.
Leading River Gum Ward at 11:50am is Lynette Pereira with 846 votes, followed by Wayne Smith with 609.
Nazir Yousafi has 563, Geoff Hansen with 517, Asher Coleman with 479, Garry Page with 256 and Damien Rosario with 249.
River Gum Ward has a current total of 3519 votes and is at 27.45 per cent completion.
Quarters Ward, as of 1.50pm, has some varying numbers, with independent Carolyn Eaves leading with 1140 first-preference votes, followed by Ian Wood with 1037.
Craig Baird is close with 838, Kuljeet Kaur Robinson with 682, Aftab Hussain with 669, Jagdeep Singh Sukhija with 551, David Rolfe with 355 and Ridvan Rasimi with 124.
With a current total of 3481 votes, Quarters Ward is at 28 per cent completion.
Correa Ward, as of 10am, has Gary Rowe leading with 352 votes, followed by Kanu Aggarwal with 279.
Tracey Ryan is next with 264, Abdullah Neshat with 133, Shegofa Naseri with 79 and Onkar Singh Sandhawalia with 36.
Correa Ward has a current total of 1143 votes and is at 8.38 per cent completion.
Down south with Tooradin, Anthony Tassone leads with 1259 votes, followed very closely by Jennifer Dizon with 1245.
After a big drop-off, Kuldeep Kaur holds 631, Andrew Gai with 553, Ali Yaghobi with 464, Brenton Kelly with 378 and Ravneet Singh with 181.
Tooradin Ward has a total of 4711 current votes and is at 37 per cent completion.
Waratah Ward has no clear numbers, but it is confirmed that Stefan Koomen is comfortably leading in Waratah Ward, ahead of Jamel Kaur Singh after 40 per cent of the count.
Kalora Ward has Melinda Ambros in the lead with 2074 votes, with Brain Oates nearby at 1431.
Damien Sawyer comes close with 1286, followed by Zabi Mazoori with 1175; currently, the ward sits at 63 per cent completion.
Casuarina Ward has Kim Ross leading the pack with 1330 votes, but drops down with Rex Flannery at 748, Jane Foreman at 745, Lyndon Samuel at 721 and Morteza Ali at 651; the ward sits at 45 per cent completion.
For the City of Casey’s participation stats, 193,435 ballots have been returned (78.34 per cent), with the final participation rate for each council area, including Casey, not to be known until the postal receipt period ends at 12pm on Friday 1 November.
As the information is still incomplete, this article will be updated online as soon as new tally numbers and new information on other wards are made available.
