Wyndham City Council is heading into a high-stakes mayoral vote on 18 March, with councillors set to choose a new leader after the suspension of Josh Gilligan threw the chamber into fresh instability.
Play the game – WYNDHAM MAYORAL MADNESS
Gilligan’s suspension on 25 February has altered the arithmetic inside the chamber. With the suspended mayor unable to vote, only 10 councillors remain eligible to take part. Under the Local Government Act 2020, any candidate needs six votes to secure the mayoralty.
The meeting, scheduled for 6pm, will determine who serves as mayor for the remainder of the 2025–26 term. But far from a routine internal ballot, the vote is shaping as a contest defined by fragile alliances, factional tension and the very real prospect of deadlock.
At present, the numbers appear evenly split.
One group is made up of Preet Singh, Shannon McGuire, Jennie Barrera, Maria King and Mia Shaw. Opposing them is a rival bloc of Peter Maynard, Larry Zhao, Susan McIntyre, Robert Szatkowski and Jasmine Hill.
If those loyalties remain intact, Wyndham could be staring at a 5-5 stalemate on the night.
That scenario would leave councillors with little room to manoeuvre. Council must appoint a mayor by 25 March, and if no candidate can win a majority, the legislation allows the result to be settled by drawing lots — an extraordinary outcome for one of Melbourne’s fastest-growing municipalities.
The possibility of such an impasse is likely to intensify behind-the-scenes negotiations in the days leading up to the vote. Any breakthrough may depend on deals over the deputy mayoralty or other key internal roles, as councillors weigh not only personalities but power.
The ballot also arrives at a politically sensitive moment. Wyndham is moving toward the 2026 Victorian state election, and the council chamber is increasingly being watched through a broader political lens.
Preet Singh is currently serving as acting mayor in the wake of Gilligan’s suspension. Singh previously stood as a Liberal candidate at the 2022 state election, and some observers believe he may again seek preselection.
Meanwhile, councillor Larry Zhao remains under scrutiny over an unresolved controversy dating back to last November, when a letter allegedly inviting six Chinese officials to Wyndham surfaced shortly before the previous mayoral vote.
Zhao has denied wrongdoing and has questioned whether the leak was designed to damage his political ambitions.
Outside the chamber, public sentiment has also entered the conversation. In a Wyndham TV poll, voters overwhelmingly backed three-time mayor Peter Maynard as their preferred choice to return to the chair.
For now, though, the decision rests with councillors alone. On 18 March, they will choose who leads Wyndham through the remainder of the term — or expose just how divided the chamber has become.
