2023 Perth City Council election

2023 Perth City Council election

←  2021 21 October 2023 2025 →
Turnout	34.51%
First party Second party Third party   IND IND Candidate Basil Zempilas Sandy Anghie Will Leyland Party Independent Independent Independent Popular vote 3,264 2,108 405 Percentage 56.50% 36.49% 7.01% Swing 27.06 26.92 7.01
Lord Mayor before election Basil Zempilas Independent Subsequent Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas Independent

The 2023 Perth City Council election was held on was held on 21 October 2023 to elect a lord mayor and 4 councillors to the City of Perth. The election was held as part of the statewide local elections in Western Australia.

Background

The previous mayoral election was held in October 2020, following the council's suspension by the Western Australian state government in 2018. ^[1] Four of the eight councillors elected in 2020 faced another election in 2021, while the remaining four had their terms expire in 2023. ^[2]

Three candidates contended the position of Lord Mayor − incumbent Basil Zempilas, councillor Sandy Anghie (who also contested the 2020 election) and Will Leyland. ^[3]

The campaign was surrounded by claims that Zempilas would join the Western Australian Liberal Party and contest the 2025 state election. On 6 September 2023, Zempilas confirmed he would seek re-election. ^[3] Anghie campaigned on "serving full time for a full term," and said she did not have ambitions for state or federal politics. ^[4]

The Greens endorsed one candidate − Isabella Tripp − who also ran in Cowan at the 2022 federal election. ^{[5] [6]}

Electoral reform introduced into the state parliament by the McGowan government in February 2023 saw optional preferential voting (used for state and some local elections in New South Wales) introduced, replacing first-past-the-post. ^[7]

Results

This section is an excerpt from Results of the 2023 Western Australian local elections § Perth.[ edit ]

2023 Western Australian local elections: Perth ^{[8] [9]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Catherine Lezer (elected)	911	16.57
	Liberal	Bruce Reynolds (elected)	827	15.04
	Labor	David Goncalves (elected)	547	9.95
	Independent	Crawford Yorke	519	9.44
	Independent	Raj Doshi (elected)	442	8.04
	Independent	Glennys Marsdon	420	7.64
	Independent	Bronte Macmillan	365	6.64
	Independent	Will Leyland	361	6.57
	Independent	Naijiao (Jason) Bo	330	6.00
	Greens	Isabella Tripp	304	5.53
	Independent	Dave Lee	244	4.44
	Independent	Shirley Vine	227	4.13
Total formal votes			5,497	98.76
Informal votes			69	1.24
Turnout			5,566	33.00

Mayoral election

2023 Western Australian mayoral elections: Perth ^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Basil Zempilas	3,264	56.50	+27.06
	Independent	Sandy Anghie	2,108	36.49	+26.92
	Independent	Will Leyland	405	7.01	+7.01
Total formal votes			5,777	99.26
Informal votes			43	0.74
Turnout			5,820	34.51	−6.78
	Independent hold		Swing	+27.06

References

1. "At last, City of Perth to pick new mayor, council in October election". WA Today. 30 January 2020.
2. "City of Perth Section 4.13 Other Election - 17 October 2020". Western Australian Electoral Commission.
3. "True to his word, Zempilas readies for another tilt at Perth mayoral role". WA Today. 6 September 2023.
4. "'In it for the city': Sandy Anghie running for Perth Lord Mayor". WAMN News. 8 October 2023.
5. "Local Government Elections in Western Australia". Greens.
6. "Cowan (Key Seat) - Federal Election 2022". ABC News.
7. "Local Government Elections". Perth WA: Western Australian Electoral Commission. Changes to voting in local government elections. Archived from the original on 25 March 2024. Local government elections in WA now use 'optional preferential voting', instead of 'first past the post' voting. Optional preferential voting is similar to how voting is done in State and Federal elections
8. "Candidates for Local Government Elections". WA Labor. Archived from the original on 26 October 2023.
9. "2023 Ordinary Election - Perth". Western Australian Electoral Commission.
10. "2023 Ordinary Election - Perth". Perth WA: Western Australian Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 25 March 2024.