{"id":139747,"date":"2016-03-24T02:27:50","date_gmt":"2016-03-23T16:27:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=139747"},"modified":"2020-10-20T10:18:26","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T00:18:26","slug":"keiths-packed-up-his-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2016\/03\/24\/keiths-packed-up-his-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Keith’s Packed Up His Office"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Cr Keith Campbell cleans out his Deputy Mayor’s office on Wednesday morning<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

March 23, 2016<\/strong><\/p>\n

South Burnett Deputy Mayor Keith Campbell has packed up his desk, ready either to shift into the Mayor’s office – as now seems most likely – or, in his own words\u00a0 “out the side door to the car park”.<\/p>\n

With almost 17,000 first preference votes counted by 6:00pm Wednesday, Cr Campbell had a lead of 1193 over his nearest rival, Cr Damien Tessmann.<\/p>\n

However, as he has achieved just 30.26 per cent of the vote, it is still mathematically possible for preference votes to push another candidate over the line.<\/p>\n

Cr Campbell said on Wednesday that “things were looking good” for him but he would wait for the final declaration of the poll next week before claiming victory.<\/p>\n

There are 22,421 votes at play in this year’s South Burnett Regional Council election.<\/p>\n

Observers have told southburnett.com.au<\/strong> most residents just “voted 1” for their candidate of choice, ignoring the opportunity to select other preferences (see explanation of Optional Preferential Voting, below<\/em>) so it appears unlikely preferences will erode all of Cr Campbell’s current lead.<\/p>\n

Cr Campbell said he greatly appreciated the support so many people had shown him but promised if he was elected he would be a Mayor for everyone, regardless of whether people had voted for him or not.<\/p>\n

He also paid tribute to the other candidates who had put up their hands for the role, and wished them good luck as the counting progressed.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The results in South Burnett Divisions 2 and 3 may also be determined on preferences but there are clear leaders in each.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gavin Jones (Division 2) and Danita Potter (Division 3) have comfortable margins over their opponents.<\/p>\n

At 6:00pm on Tuesday, Roz Frohloff had secured 48.5 per cent of the vote in Division 1 so it is likely she will reach the 50 per cent mark as counting continues.<\/p>\n

Divisions 4 and 6 look to have been decided although counting is continuing.<\/p>\n

In Division 4, Terry Fleischfresser appears to have narrowly defeated rival Andrew Saal with 53.01 per cent of votes.<\/p>\n

And Cr Ros Heit has 61.54 per cent of the vote in Division 6.<\/p>\n

Cr Kathy Duff has already been returned unopposed in Division 5.<\/p>\n