WALGA welcomes council voting changes

Voting in local council elections will be more transparent and less susceptible to manipulation by the big political parties after the state parliament passed legislation to return to the first-pass-the-post voting system.

The WA Local Government Association today applauded the state government's push for the change from proportional preferential voting.

"There was very little time and significant resistance from the various government departments to have this change made in time for the October elections but the Minister has pushed through all that," WALGA president Bill Mitchell said.

"Given that the legislation had lapsed previously and that the timeframe was down to just two days, the association was preparing the sector to accept that the change would not be made in time.

He added that the first-past-the-post system is considered more transparent and less able to be manipulated by big political parties than the more complex proportional preferential voting.

"Under the first-past-the-post system candidates need only to win the support of their local community whereas under the PPV system there is a greater focus on running mates and back room deals that mostly suit the organised, larger political parties," Cr Mitchell said.

"The move back to first-past-the-post returns control of Council elections to the community and lessens the influence and potential manipulation by the major political parties."

WALGA is also pushing for an end to the WA Electoral Commission's monopoly on postal voting.

The association wants to open the system to competition, including allowing local governments to manage the process.