The Byron Shire Council is to be led by a Greens’ mayor again for the first time since Simon Richardson’s departure before the 2021 local government election.
Former deputy mayor Sarah Ndiaye was officially announced as the new mayor on Monday after the NSW electoral commission finished counting, including distribution of preferences.
Cr Ndiaye led a four-person race for the top elected council role on first preferences, more than doubling the votes for outgoing Independent Mayor Michael Lyon.
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Cr Lyon lost the race, winning around 300 fewer votes than the only newcomer to the council election campaign, David Warth.
Mr Warth won 3,481 first preferences compared to Ms Ndiaye’s 6,522.
But Labor incumbent Councillor Asren Pugh came very close to The Greens’ candidate, winning 5,666 first preferences.
The final breakdown of the 18,797 formal votes counted in the shire left more than four percentage points between Crs Ndiaye and Pugh.
Cr Ndiaye won more than a third of the first preference votes at 34.7 per cent while Cr Pugh won less than a third at 30.14 per cent, suggesting nearly two-thirds of voters in the Byron Shire have progressive political values.
Asren Pugh wins Bangalow and postal first preferences
Looking at individual voting places and methods, Cr Ndiaye won the most first preferences almost everywhere and how but there were a few notable exceptions where Cr Pugh led the tally.
An early trend showing his popularity in Bangalow was sustained, with Cr Pugh winning 614 first preferences at the village booth on Election Day compared to Cr Ndiaye’s 464.
Part of Clunes is included in the Byron Shire and is close to Bangalow; only 100 ballots were counted there but Cr Pugh beat Cr Ndiaye 34 to 30 on first preferences.
Cr Pugh also won two more first preferences than Cr Ndiaye in the Byron Bay pre-poll at 953 to 951 and more in postal votes at 309 to 265.
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Fewer than 20,000 people filled out mayoral ballots, compared to 27,484 people registered, although it’s possible some voters sent in postal forms too late.
The electoral commission’s deadline to receive the forms was Friday 27 September.
There were 839 informal votes recorded in the mayoral election.
Preferences tighten competition between Labor and Greens
Turning to second preferences, more than half of Cr Lyon’s votes were exhausted, suggesting most of his supporters weren’t interested in choosing a new mayor.
The other 1,452 ballots with him at number one for mayor went mostly to the other two male candidates, with Cr Pugh benefiting the most at 634 second preferences compared to 529 for Mr Warth.
Cr Ndiaye won less than 20 per cent of second preferences but was still more than 500 votes ahead of Cr Pugh by the time they were distributed.
Mr Warth was the next to be excluded from the mayoral race and nearly two-thirds of his votes were exhausted on third-preference counting, suggesting most of his supporters weren’t interested in anyone else, let alone choosing between a Labor or Greens mayor.
The remaining 1,522 voters were almost split evenly between Cr Ndiaye and Cr Pugh but Cr Ndiaye benefitted more with 771 of his preferences compared to 751 for Cr Pugh.
There was no need for the commission to continue past the third count because by then Cr Ndiaye had crossed the majority line at 51.81 per cent of votes compared to Cr Pugh’s 48.19 per cent.
The difference of 500 votes is obviously a victory for The Greens but is also a record achievement for Labor in the Byron Shire, creating an interesting precedent for the next local government elections.
Vote counting for the other eight council seats continues.
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