Hooper fails in re-election bid
BANANA Shire Mayor John Hooper will not be returned office.
At 4pm Monday afternoon Mr Hooper was 616 votes behind front-runner Ron Carige with 54% of the vote counted.
Ron Carige is leading the poll with 38.85%, followed by Kym Mobbs 33.19% and John Hooper 27.16%.
Cr Hooper polled poorly in areas outside of Biloela and was particularly on the nose with voters in the Dawson Valley where he collected just 12.26% in Division 6 (Theodore, Taroom area) and 16.05% of the vote in Division 5 (Moura/Banana area).
With neither candidate holding a majority, it will be decided on preferences with Cr Hooper dropping out of the race and his preferences allocated to the other two candidates.
Central Telegraph has been advised that all ballot papers in the possession of the returning officer have been counted. Of the 9,340 enrolled voters in Banana Shire a total of 5,272 votes have been returned.
The remaining 4,068 are expected to be delivered in the mail over the next week.
