Local Government Minister John Castrilli has welcomed the 522 councillors and mayors elected to represent their areas in the recent local government elections.
“I am pleased with the interest shown in the 2009 elections and congratulate the candidates on their success,” Mr Castrilli said.
“I also acknowledge those candidates who were not successful and thank them for offering to stand for election.
“It is their active participation that ensures the validity of our democratic system.
“This is an exciting time to be a councillor given the significant changes under way through reform of the local government sector and I look forward to working with the newly elected mayors and councillors as we move ahead with the reform process.”
The Minister said the 2009 local government elections saw a return to the first-past-the-post (FPTP) system of voting following the passing of legislation in State Parliament earlier this year.
The system of voting replaces the proportional preferential voting (PPV) introduced by the previous Labor government.
“The return to the FPTP system of voting was in response to requests from the local government sector and we are pleased to have achieved a smooth transition to the new system in time for the local government elections,” Mr Castrilli said.
“It is a fairer, simpler system which makes the electorate process easier to understand and more accessible to the wider community.”
Also made available for the elections was specialist election counting software, jointly developed by the Department of Local Government and the Western Australian Electoral Commission.
The CountWA software, updated following the introduction of the FPTP system of voting, was distributed to all local governments with contested elections, providing councils with a faster method of determining the results of elections.
Minister's office - 9213 6800