In contrast, Koutoufides was preferenced favourably by independent Gary Morgan and the Liberals, and if Reece polls higher than Koutoufides, he will receive the benefit of these preferences.
Preferences do not flow as strongly for the leadership ticket as there is no option to vote “above the line” and have preferences distributed automatically. However, they will be crucial to the result because no candidate is polling enough to win outright on primary votes.
The Liberal vote is much stronger than analysts had predicted, while the vote for both the Greens and Labor is down.
The early count makes it likely that long-time councillor Kevin Louey, known as “the kingmaker”, will be re-elected to council for Team Reece, followed by Owen Guest for the Liberals, Gladys Liu from Team Kouta, while Olivia Ball will be re-elected for the Greens.
Other councillors could include Mark Scott from Team Reece, Andrew Rowse from Innovate Melbourne and Rafael Camillo from Team Morgan.
Intaj Khan, who is running for deputy lord mayor with Koutoufides, said the campaign had gone well in comparison to those of Wood and the Greens.
“It is surprising how many people have underestimated us,” he said.
Liberal councillor candidate Guest said the results so far showed two things: “The first is that Melbourne wants a city managed by professionals and secondly, that both Melburnians and Victorians are ready for a Liberal government.”
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