In short:
Wyndham City councillors will meet on 18 March to elect a new mayor following the suspension of Josh Gilligan. With the chamber finely balanced, factions may yet shift as councillors seek the six votes needed to claim the chair.
Date Set But Anything Could Happen
Wyndham councillors will meet on 18 March at 6pm to elect a new mayor for the remainder of the 2025–26 mayoral term following the suspension of Josh Gilligan on 25 February.
The vote follows a period of instability at Wyndham City Council and sets up a tightly balanced contest inside the chamber.
With Gilligan unable to vote, only 10 councillors remain eligible to participate. Under the Local Government Act 2020, a candidate must secure a majority of six votes to be elected mayor.
Two opposing blocs currently shape the numbers.
Preet Singh, Shannon McGuire, Jennie Barrera, Maria King and Mia Shaw form one bloc inside the chamber, opposed by a rival bloc consisting of Peter Maynard, Larry Zhao, Susan McIntyre, Robert Szatkowski and Jasmine Hill.
If those alignments hold, the chamber faces a potential 5–5 deadlock.
Council must elect a mayor by 25 March to serve out the remainder of the term. If the vote on 18 March fails to produce a majority, the Local Government Act allows the result to be determined by drawing lots.
That possibility increases pressure on councillors to reach an agreement beforehand.
Any attempt to break the stalemate could involve negotiations around the deputy mayoralty or other internal positions.
The vote also takes place as Wyndham enters a politically significant period ahead of the 2026 Victorian state election.
Preet Singh is currently serving as acting mayor after Gilligan’s suspension. Singh previously ran as a Liberal candidate at the 2022 state election and some observers expect he may again seek preselection.
Councillor Larry Zhao is also dealing with an unresolved controversy that began last November, when a letter allegedly inviting six Chinese officials to Wyndham surfaced shortly before the mayoral election.
Zhao has denied wrongdoing and questioned whether the leak was intended to damage his political ambitions.
In a Wyndham TV poll, voters overwhemingly backed three-time mayor Peter Maynard as their pick to take the chair.
Councillors must now decide who will lead Wyndham through the remainder of the term in a chamber where the numbers remain finely balanced.
FOLLOW US
