Narrandera Shire Council appears set to welcome a number of new representatives including one of its youngest ever councillors in Narrandera Youth Council Mayor Braden Lyons, as counting continues after the local government elections on Saturday.

Neville Kschenka (14.76%) stormed to the top of the list with the most votes while Mr Lyons (11.85%) has earned the second highest number of votes so far.

The Electoral Commission is still to count online votes (iVotes), but both Mr Kschenka and Mr Lyons are likely to reach the quota to be elected on first preference counts.

Tracey Lewis, who is seeking a second term, also proved a popular candidate with 10.71% of formal votes so far and is on track to secure one of the nine positions up for grabs.

Among others to poll well were new candidates Sue Ruffles (9.60%), Cameron Lander (7.93%) and Peter Dawson (7.76%).

Also in the running to snare a spot are Kevin Morris (7.59%), Jenny Clarke (8.73%) and Narelle Payne (4.26%), who are all seeking re-election to council.

The remaining candidates will be hoping they can find their way up the order when the online votes are tallied, and then preferences distributed.

Successful candidates will be weighing up their options ahead of the Mayoral election for the Narrandera Shire Council on January 5 2022.

Some have already told the Argus that Cr Kschenka is likely to be returned as Mayor but others may still nominate.

Kevin Morris and Peter Dawson confirmed to the Narrandera Argus they would not be nominating for Mayor if elected.

Narrandera PRIMARY votes:

Neville Kschenka – 426
Braden Lyons – 342
Tracey Lewis – 309
Sue Ruffles – 277
Jenny Clarke – 252
Cameron Lander – 229
Peter Dawson – 224
Kevin Morris – 219
Narelle Payne – 123

…

Bob Manning – 115
Barbara Byron – 108
Leigh Mathieson – 88
Rachele Cregan – 63
Stuart Davies – 56
Shannon Rivero – 55

This article appeared in the Narrandera Argus, 9 December 2021.