# 2018 Melbourne lord mayoral by-election

The 2018 Melbourne lord mayoral by-election was held from 23 April until 11 May 2018 to elect the Lord Mayor of Melbourne, following the resignation of Robert Doyle. The election used a preferential voting system and was held by postal ballot.

## Background

The City of Melbourne is a local government 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 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. On 4 February 2018, Doyle resigned as Lord Mayor of Melbourne.

## Candidates

The candidates for lord mayor at the by-election were:
Candidates (14) in ballot paper order :
| Party | Candidate | Background |
| Independent | Qun Xie | Taxation officer, accountant, economist and company executive director. |
| Independent | Sally Capp | Former CEO of the Committee for Melbourne, former Victorian Agent-General in London. |
| Independent | Luke Downing | |
| Greens | Rohan Leppert | City of Melbourne councillor and Chair of the Arts, Culture, and Heritage portfolios. |
| Independent | Sally Warhaft | Broadcaster, anthropologist and writer involved with the Wheeler Centre. |
| Independent | Alex Macdonald | Local business owner. |
| Independent | Allan Watson | Former councillor and Lord Mayor, 1993. |
| Labor | Jennifer Yang | Former City of Manningham mayor and businesswoman. |
| Independent | Katie Sfetkidis | Independent artist. |
| Independent | Gary Morgan | Executive chairman of Roy Morgan Research and pollster. |
| Independent | Nathalie Nicole O'Sughrue | Employment Services Industry, Business coach. |
| Independent | Michael Burge | Psychologist, Liberal candidate for Thomastown in the 2010 Victorian state election, OAM. |
| Liberal | Ken Ong | Businessman and former City of Melbourne councillor. |
| Animal Justice Party | Bruce Poon | |

## Results

2018 Melbourne lord mayoral by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Independent | Sally Capp | 19,412 | 25.38 | +25.38 |
| | Labor | Jennifer Yang | 11,774 | 15.39 | +15.39 |
| | Greens | Rohan Leppert | 11,296 | 14.77 | −6.50 |
| | Independent | Sally Warhaft | 6,837 | 8.94 | |
| | Liberal | Ken Ong | 6,769 | 8.85 | |
| | Independent | Gary Morgan | 6,412 | 8.38 | |
| | Independent | Qun Xie | 3,449 | 4.51 | |
| | Independent | Allan Watson | 2,488 | 3.25 | |
| | Independent | Nathalie Nicole O'Sughrue | 2,087 | 2.73 | |
| | Independent | Michael Burge | 1,571 | 2.05 | |
| | Independent | Alex MacDonald | 1,387 | 1.81 | |
| | Animal Justice | Bruce Poon | 1,243 | 1.63 | |
| | Independent | Katie Sfetkidis | 933 | 1.22 | |
| | Independent | Luke Downing | 834 | 1.09 | |
| Two-candidate-preferred result ||||||
| | Independent | Sally Capp | 40,579 | 53.05 | +53.05 |
| | Labor | Jennifer Yang | 35,913 | 46.95 | +46.95 |
| | Independent gain from Team Doyle | Independent gain from Team Doyle | Swing | N/A | |