The 2018 Melbourne lord mayoral by-election was held from 23 April until 11 May 2018 to elect the

Lord Mayor of Melbourne This is a list of mayors and lord mayors of the City of Melbourne, a local government area of Victoria, Australia. Mayors (1842–1902) Lord mayors (1902–1980) The title of "Lord Mayor" was conferred on the position of mayor by King ...

, following the resignation of

Robert Doyle Robert Keith Bennett Doyle (born 20 May 1953) is an Australian politician who was the 103rd Lord Mayor of Melbourne, elected on 30 November 2008 until he resigned on 4 February 2018 amidst allegations of sexual harassment. He was previously M ...

. The election used a

preferential voting Preferential voting or preference voting (PV) may refer to different election systems or groups of election systems: * Any electoral system that allows a voter to indicate multiple preferences where preferences marked are weighted or used as cont ...

system and was held by postal ballot.

Background

The

City of Melbourne The City of Melbourne is a Local government in Australia, local government area in Victoria, Australia, located in the Melbourne central business district, central city area of Melbourne. In 2021, the city has an area of and had a populati ...

is a

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

municipality consisting of nine councillors, a lord mayor and a deputy lord mayor, who are elected for a four-year term. The incumbent lord mayor, Robert Doyle, was first elected in the 2008 City of Melbourne election. On 15 December 2017, Cr Tessa Sullivan resigned from the council. Sullivan, who had been elected on the Team Doyle

ticket Ticket or tickets may refer to: Slips of paper * Lottery ticket * Parking ticket, a ticket confirming that the parking fee was paid (and the time of the parking start) * Toll ticket, a slip of paper used to indicate where vehicles entered a to ...

alongside Doyle, lodged a complaint with the City of Melbourne chief executive Ben Rimmer. In her complaint, Sullivan alleged that Doyle had sexually harassed and indecently assaulted her. On 17 December, Doyle released a statement on Twitter, which said he had not been informed of the details of the allegations. He announced he would take a month's leave while an investigation was carried out, stressing that his standing aside "must not be interpreted as any concession or admission". Further allegations were made against Doyle in January 2018.More of Robert Doyle's alleged victims keep silent fearing they too will be 'vilified'
/ref> On 4 February 2018, Doyle resigned as Lord Mayor of Melbourne.

Candidates

The candidates for lord mayor at the by-election were:

Results

References

{{Melbourne elections

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

Lord Mayor of Melbourne 2018 Lord Mayor of Melbourne 2018