The 2020 Victorian local elections were held on 24 October 2020 to elect the councils of 76 of the 79

local government areas A local government area (LGA) is an administrative division of a country that a local government is responsible for. The size of an LGA varies by country but it is generally a subdivision of a state, province, division, or territory. The phrase i ...

in Victoria, Australia. Three councils did not hold elections − South Gippsland (dismissed in June 2019), Casey (dismissed in February 2020) and Whittlesea (dismissed in March 2020). An election for South Gippsland was held in October 2021, while Casey and Whittlesea will not have their elections until

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Background

The elections were held amid the COVID-19 Pandemic in Australia, with Melbourne still in lockdown at the time of the elections. A survey conducted in April 2020 showed that a significant majority of councils wanted the elections postponed for a year. However, Minister for Local Government Shaun Leane announced on 19 August that the elections would go ahead as scheduled. Eight councils changed their electoral structure ahead of the election, moving to single-member wards as a result of the

Local Government Act 2020 The Local Government Act 2020 was a significant statute in Victoria, Australia, notable for its impact on the electoral systems of local councils in Victoria. The Act, which the Victorian Government described as the "most ambitious and comprehe ...

: * Bayside City Council *

Cardinia Shire Council The Shire of Cardinia is a local government area in Victoria, Australia, in the south-east of Melbourne between Western Port and the Yarra Ranges on the outskirts of Melbourne. It has an area of 1,283 square kilometres, and had a population of ...

* Darebin City Council * Greater Dandenong City Council * Kingston City Council *

Manningham City Council The City of Manningham is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne and is divided into 12 suburbs, with the largest being Doncaster and Doncaster East. It comprises an area of 113 square kilometres ...

Maroondah City Council The City of Maroondah is a local government area in Victoria, Australia in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Maroondah had a population of 117,498 in June 2018. The City of Maroondah was created through the amalgamation the former Cities of ...

Whitehorse City Council The Whitehorse City Council is the governing body of the city of Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. The council consists of a mayor plus six councillors elected at large. The current mayor of Whitehorse is Dan Curtis, since 2012. Governance of the city wa ...

Additionally, Swan Hill and

Mansfield Mansfield is a market town and the administrative centre of Mansfield District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is the largest town in the wider Mansfield Urban Area (followed by Sutton-in-Ashfield). It gained the Royal Charter of a market tow ...

moved to an unsubdivided structure.

Political parties

The Liberal Party does not endorse candidates for local elections in Victoria. Labor chose to endorse some candidates, and some local party branches also made their own endorsements.

Australian Progressives Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal Aus ...

co-founder Peter Wingate contested Yarraville Ward in Maribyrnong as the party's first ever local elections candidate. Labor endorsed a total of 35 candidates in the following LGAs: *

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

(6 candidates) * Maribyrnong (7 candidates) * Melbourne (3 candidates, plus 2 in the leadership team election) * Moonee Valley (6 candidates) *

Moreland The City of Merri-bek is a local government area in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. It comprises the inner northern suburbs between 4 and 11 kilometres from the Melbourne CBD. The Merri-bek local government area covers , and in June 2018, ...

(5 candidates) * Wodonga (1 candidate) * Yarra (5 candidates) Additionally, the Labor Members for Darebin group endorsed 10 candidates (later disendorsing one). The ALP distanced themselves from the group, saying they did not endorse any candidates in Darebin. Six other

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-registered parties endorsed candidates: * The Greens (88 candidates) * Victorian Socialists (19 candidates) * Animal Justice Party (16 candidates) * Liberal Democrats (10 candidates) * Reason Party (7 candidates) * Sustainable Australia Party (6 candidates)

Party changes before elections

A number of councillors joined or left parties before the 2020 elections.

Results

Council control

Aftermath

Yarra City Council was described Australia's "most left-wing local government" with The Greens receiving a majority and two independent socialists, including

Stephen Jolly Stephen Jolly (born 1962) is an Australian politician, socialist activist, author and construction worker. He is a councillor in the City of Yarra and previously was the President and lead candidate for the Victorian Socialists during the 2018 ...

, elected. However,

Gabrielle de Vietri Gabrielle de Vietri (born 1983) is a member of the Victorian Greens elected in the 2022 Victorian state election for the electoral district of Richmond. Life and career In 2003, de Vietri earned a Visual Arts Certificate from the , followed by a ...

resigned after winning the seat of

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

and was replaced via countback by independent Michael Glynatsis, ending the Greens majority. In November 2021,

councillor Oscar Yildiz was part of the formation of the Victorians Party, a centrist political party which planned to contest the 2022 state election. Along with Yildiz, fellow Moreland councillor Helen Pavlidis-Mihalakos and Melbourne councillor Philip Le Liu joined the party, giving it 3 local government seats. The party disbanded in August 2022, citing financial difficulties. The United Australia Party gained Victorian local representation in Victoria in May 2022, when Swan Hill councillor Stuart King joined the party to contest Mallee at the

federal election An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold public office. Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative democracy has operated ...

. The City of Moreland was renamed to

Merri-bek The City of Merri-bek is a Local government areas of Victoria, local government area in metropolitan Melbourne, Australia. It comprises the inner northern suburbs between 4 and 11 kilometres from the Melbourne city centre, Melbourne CBD. The ...

in September 2022. Two minor parties, the Angry Victorians Party and Restore Democracy Sack Dan Andrews, gained councillors in 2023 via different countbacks.

Electoral fraud allegations

In February 2022, Labor councillor Milad El-Halabi resigned after being charged with conspiracy to cheat and defraud for allegedly tampering with the council elections in

. He was replaced via countback in March 2022 by Socialist Alliance's Monica Harte. On 31 March 2023, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal found that El-Halabi was unduly elected. He has denied all allegations.

Greens resignations

The Greens had five of its councillors resign from the party since the 2020 elections, and a further four seats have been lost due to resignations and deaths. James Conlan (

) left the party in solidarity with senator Lidia Thorpe, Amanda Stone ( Yarra) resigned in February 2023, and Anab Mohamud ( Yarra) resigned in February 2024. In April 2024, both Greens councillors in Monash − Anjalee de Silva and Josh Fergeus − left the party.

By-elections and countbacks

The Victorian Electoral Commission has held a number of by-elections and countbacks to fill vacancies on councils since the 2020 elections.

By-elections

Countbacks

References

{{Victorian elections Local elections in Victoria

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...