THE Lalor Ward by-election has delivered a new councillor for the City of Whittlesea, with Independant Michael Labrador winning the seat after distribution of preferences, despite polling the fifth-most first preference votes.
The Victorian Electoral Commission (VEC) formally declared the result on Wednesday, with Mr Labrador taking 52.43 per cent of the vote after distribution of preferences were handed out.
This came after Mr Labrador took just 11.23 per cent of the first preference vote, which ranked behind Ellen McNaught, Belinda Stojcevski, Omar Hassan and incumbent Councillor Stevan Kozmevski, who polled 22.27 per cent of the first preference votes.
Mr Labrador will now serve as the Councillor for Lalor Ward for the remainder of the current Council term as the City of Whittlesea continues to try to move on from what has been a turbulent 2025.
The vote was recast following an announcement in May that the Lalor Ward election result was voided due to voter fraud.
Eighty-one suspicious returns were found, which forced the VEC and Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal’s (VCAT) hand, given the seat was decided between Mr Kozmevski and Ms McNaught by just 39 votes.
It later emerged that the scheme, which was ultimately thwarted, tried to elect Nicholas Hajichristou into the seat, who finished third out of the three candidates.
There is no suggestion any of the candidates who ran in the original election were aware of the scheme.
Liberal member for the Northern Metropolitan Region, Evan Mulholland, was one of the first to congratulate Mr Labrador on his success.
“I congratulate my friend Michael Labrador, he will be a great councillor for the good people of Lalor and I know he will fight for them,” he said.
