Liberal Party likely to win eight of 15 positions on Sutherland Shire Council – St George and Sutherland Shire Leader

The Liberal Party's position has strengthened further following the Sutherland Shire Council election.

While the makeup of the council won't be certain for another two weeks, the latest vote count indicates the Liberals are likely to have eight of the 15 positions, Labor five with two independents.

Of the independents, Laura Cowell is assured of victory in E Ward, while Leanne Farmer in A Ward is in an extremely strong position and Pam Brown in B Ward has a lesser chance.

Labor lost votes to independent candidates and the group's leader Michael Forshaw (A Ward) is expected to lose his position to Ms Farmer.

Preferences won't be distributed until December 21, due to an extension of time for postal votes to be received. The new council will be sworn in on January 10.

Sports minded: Shire Sports Independents team, Laura Cowell, Matt Brady and Giulio Di Stefano monitored results while watching Sydney FC play at Kogarah. Picture: supplied

Projections based on the counting of votes up till Monday night:

A Ward: The Liberals led by Carol Provan have two positions, with independent Leanne Farmer favoured to take the third spot ahead of Labor's Michael Forshaw.

B Ward: Louise Sullivan (Liberal) and Jack Boyd (Labor) have won, and the third spot is likely to go to Liberal Kent Johns, with independent Pam Brown having some chance.

C Ward: The Liberals, led by Hassan Awada, have two positions, and Labor's Jen Armstrong the other.

D Ward: The status-quo, with Labor's Diedree Steinwall and Greg McLean, and Liberal Carmelo Pesce re-elected.

E Ward: The winners are Stephen Nikolovski (Liberals), Peter Scaysbrook (Labor) and Laura Cowell (Shire Sports Independents).

POSTERS DISAPPEAR

Meanwhile, Liberal team leader Carmelo Pesce says "someone really did a job on me" on election day.

Mr Pesce's campaign volunteers arrived at polling booths in D Ward to find the former mayor's posters had been removed.

"Five of the 17 booths were stripped bare," he said. "I put them up on Friday night and they were gone by morning."

Mr Pesce said he was sure rival candidates Diedree Steinwall (Labor) and Dominique Passmore (independent) knew nothing about it. "They were shocked when I told them," he said.

Other candidates in various wards also reported their posters being removed or destroyed during the election campaign.

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Liberal Party likely to win eight of 15 positions on Sutherland Shire Council - St George and Sutherland Shire Leader