Comrades
Socialists in Melbourne are over the moon at the result of yesterday's
(Saturday October 6th) Council by-election in Nicolson Ward, City of Yarra.
The area includes North Fitzroy and North Carlton.
Denise Dudley, standing for the Socialist Party (SP), received 30.2% of the
vote (1745 votes), the highest percentage vote for an openly socialist
candidate in Australia for years. The SP was close to winning as the full
results below show.
Denise, 24, works with people at risk in a city centre NGO. She is
co-ordinator of the Community Campaign for Heroin Reform. Denise
co-ordinated the first aid crew at both S11 in 2000 and the M1 rally in
Melbourne in 2001. She is on the National Committee of the Socialist Party,
the Australian section of the Committee for a Workers' International.
The area has been a Labor Party stronghold for decades. The Labor-dominated
Council has outsourced, cutback, sacked in a rapid shift to the Right in
the past years. Recently they sacked the three sexual assault support
workers from Council and introduced new and more expensive parking meters
in the ward area.
Their candidate received 34.8% (2010 votes) and came second to the Greens
on 35.0% (2026 votes). Socialist Party preferences got the Greens over the
line.
SP gave its preferences to the Greens. Greens gave their preferences to SP.
ALP gave their preferences to Greens.
With no right-wing candidates, most Liberal voters turned to the ALP, with
the SP picking up many ex-Labor voters.
65% of the electorate voted for either Green or Socialist!
The bosses' media will try and say the vote for us was an anti-parking
meter vote, but they ignore the fact that all three candidates said they
opposed the parking meters and both Greens and SP candidates signed a
pledge on the issue put to them by the local campaign against parking
meters.
Also, as the full results below show, the SP vote was lowest (23%) in the
area where the parking meters are proposed to be introduced--North Fitzroy.
The high vote for the SP was partially an anti-Council vote, with we
believe most of our votes coming from ex-ALP voters (the ALP received 65%+
in the last election for this ward in 1999).
We also received a minority of our votes from a layer of young people
becoming radicalised by recent events including the anti-globalisation
movement, the refugee crisis, the impending military conflict, and the
general job insecurity and low pay facing young people.
The SP has a range of initiatives planned to build on the success of yesterday.
We send our congratulations to Gurm Sekron, the Green candidate, and look
forward to continuing our good relationship with him and his party in the
next period.
Full results - not including informal votes:
Postal votes
ALP 64 (39%) - Greens 29 (18%) - SP 63 (39%)
Prepoll votes at electoral commission office
ALP 6 (17%) - Greens 8 (24%) - SP 17 (50%)
Prepoll votes at Carlton Library
ALP 255 (21%) - Greens 425 (35%) - SP 525 (44%)
St Michaels Church Hall, North Carlton
ALP 416 (38%) - Greens 366 (34%) - SP 309 (28%)
Fitzroy North Primary School, North Fitzroy
ALP 452 (37%) - Greens 418 (38%) - SP 281 (23%)
Merri Creek Primary School
ALP 326 (41%) - Greens 227 (28%) - SP 213 (26%)
Carlton North Primary School
ALP 425 (32%) - Greens 553 (42%) - SP 336 (24%)
TOTAL: ALP 2010 (34.8%) - Greens 2026 (35.0%) - SP 1745 (30.2%)
For more detail email us at [EMAIL PROTECTED] or phone our office on (03) 9639
9111. Visit our Melbourne office and bookshop, Room 38, Trades Hall, cnr
Lygon and Victoria Sts, Carlton South.
Meetings every Tuesday at 7pm at this address.
--
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