Vote rigging in local election voids result, as councillor vows to run again
The result of a council election in Melbourne's north has been declared void due to ballot paper rigging, which will send voters to a byelection.
Veteran Labor-aligned councillor Stevan Kozmevski has lost his position on Whittlesea City Council after the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) nullified the result in the council's Lalor ward due to 'attempted and actual interference with the election'.
Kozmevski was successful in October's council election with a margin of just 39 votes, but electoral officers later discovered 81 suspicious returned ballots. The interference might have affected the result, VCAT found in its judgment, handed down on Thursday.
Neither VCAT nor the Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) have suggested that Kozmevski was involved. The perpetrators of the vote-rigging scheme have not been found, despite a police investigation.
Kozmevski said he intended to run again when a byelection is held. No date has been set.
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'It is disappointing to have to return to a byelection due to the behaviour of a small group. The attempted fraud by person or persons unknown on behalf of a candidate whose platform was simply anti-Labor Party is disturbing,' he said.
'Their attempt failed miserably as the preferred candidate for the fraud ran last in the ballot and the flow of preferences directed against me was not enough to change the result.'
The VEC submitted that the scheme was designed to elect Nicholas Hajichristou, who ultimately polled third out of three candidates in Lalor ward.
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