Victorian council election 2012: New blood in Whittlesea council

New blood has flushed the City of Whittlesea with five new councillors elected to a team of 11.

Two former North ward councillors, John Fry and Pam McLeod, were ousted by newcomers Ricky Kirkham and Nicola Davis. Former councillor Rex Griffin came second after preferences were distributed in the three seat ward.

Three other new councillors were elected — Ken Harris joins former councillors Mary Lalios, Sam Alessi and Norm Kelly in South East ward, while Darryl Sinclair and Adrian Spinelli join re-elected councillors Stevan Kozmevski and Kris Pavlidis in South West ward.

Long serving councillor Frank Merlino retired before the election.

Of 30,318 eligible voters, 20,749 cast formal votes and 868, or four per cent, of the total number of voters cast donkey votes.

The new council will be sworn in tomorrow night (Wednesday).