Campbelltown Council Liberal Party leader George Greiss says he hasn’t yet decided if he will throw his hat in the ring to become mayor.
An election for mayor will be held on January 11 and after the somewhat surprising result for the Liberals there’s talk Cr Greiss will run for the top job.
“Ask me next week,’’ he responded when asked by the South West Voice this morning.
Cr Greiss said the positive result for the Liberal Party, which recorded a positive swing of almost 10 percent on the 2016 election showed that the voters of Campbelltown should never be underestimated.
“They are very intelligent and make wise choices when it comes to voting in council elections,’’ he said.
Not that Cr Greiss would be guaranteed the mayoralty: his four Liberals will almost certainly line up against seven Labor councillors and four independents on January 11.
Labor, which has lost its absolute majority despite a gain of 1.1 percent on 2016, will now have to decide who their candidate will be for mayor.
It will be a choice of more of the same as the past five years with George Brticevic or go for a change with someone like Darcy Lound.
But the make up of the entire council will also play a role, with four candidates vying for the last three spots.
With 43.6 percent of the total vote counted, Labor looks to have secured seven spots, the Liberals four and Community First’s Josh Cotter one.
Vying for the final three council seats are Animal Justice Party (.82 of a quota), TLC’s Warren Morrison (.79), The Greens (.77) and Community Voice (.76).
As we have seen in the past, councillors can be elected without reaching the full quota, so on that basis the Greens and Community Voice will fight it out for the last spot.
Anne Parnham’s Campbelltown Independents have polled just under half a quota (.49) and would need a miracle to win a spot.
In Camden, the Liberal Party looks to have won four spots on the new council, Labor three, with two independents – including veteran councillor Eva Campbell.
However, a note of caution here: with more than half the votes still to be counted, things can change.
That is why nobody’s claiming victory anywhere in outer South Western Sydney, including Liverpool and Wollondilly, where they were electing mayors via popular vote as well.
