Adrian Schrinner has been re-elected as Brisbane Lord Mayor while incumbent Tom Tate has declared victory in the Gold Coast mayoral race.
Ballots will continue to be counted long into the night after Queenslanders cast their votes in local government elections on March 17.
The state has Australia’s two biggest local councils, Brisbane and the Gold Coast, with 3.5 million voters statewide expected to have cast their ballots.
ABC chief election analyst Antony Green called the result for the Brisbane mayoralty on Saturday evening.
Mr. Schrinner sought re-election against Labor’s Tracey Price and the Greens’ Jonathan Sriranganathan.
He narrowly won a majority council chamber in the 2020 local government election but suffered a 5.1 per cent swing, with a 3.9 per cent swing against the Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) across the wards.
Gold Coast Mayor Tom Tate sought re-election for a record fourth term and after facing eight challengers, he claimed victory on Saturday evening.
Other wards to watch included Paddington, Enoggera, Morningside, The Gabba and Calamvale which the incumbents held with narrow margins.
On the Gold Coast, incumbent councillor Ryan Bayldon-Lumsden is seeking re-election for division seven while facing a murder charge.
He is accused of killing his stepfather Robert Malcolm Lumsden, 58, at the family’s Arundel home in August.
Mr. Bayldon-Lumsden says the state government endorsed his candidacy despite a coming trial for the murder charge.
“It’s up to the voters now who they want as their representative,” he told AAP on March 16.
But rival candidates and the state member for Bonney have taken a dim view.
“If he really cared about the community, he would not have put his hand up with an unresolved murder charge,” LNP MP Sam O'Connor said.
Mr. O'Connor said if the incumbent was re-elected it would likely result in another suspension, similar to what occurred six months ago when the charge was laid.
Premier Steven Miles on March 16 told reporters Mr. Bayldon-Lumsden would be “suspended again given the circumstances” if re-elected.
Candidates Joe Wilkinson and Jenna Schroeder criticised Mr. Bayldon-Lumsden for running again, considering the council area has been without elected representation for six months.
Mayors and councillors were up for election across Queensland’s 77 local governments but some voters only had one option on their ballot as some candidates ran unopposed.
The local council elections took place on March 17 alongside two state government by-elections.
By-elections were held in Inala and Ipswich West after respective members, former premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Jim Madden, resigned.
