The 2025 Local Government Elections were held on Saturday, 18 October. Polls officially closed at 6pm, with counting commencing immediately. Provisional results were made available to inform electors, candidates, and local governments while verification processes continued.
During the count process for the City of Cockburn Mayoral election, a procedural matter occurred, which led to the premature publication of provisional election results.
During the reconciliation process, it was discovered that 297 ballot papers had not been included in the initial count. These ballot papers were subsequently counted, and completed figures were confirmed.
Final results were published on the Western Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC) website awaiting declaration by the Returning Officer. Upon discovery of this, the results were promptly removed from the website.
Prior to results being formally declared, candidates may request a re-count. A formal request for a recount has been submitted by a candidate. As a result, preparations are currently underway for this process to proceed today.
With more than 25,600 votes received for the City of Cockburn Mayoral election, the recount process may take up two days to complete.
The WAEC remains committed to upholding the integrity, transparency and accuracy of electoral procedures and is working closely with the City of Cockburn to finalise the results as soon as possible.