Chung said that, if he ended up in a similar position, he would look at ways to step back from the mayoral role and stay on as a councillor. He was yet to look into the technicalities of it.

And on this, it could be quite difficult for him.

Under the Local Government Act if he resigns after being declared Mayor then there’s an extraordinary vacancy which triggers a by-election for a new mayor. He doesn’t revert to being a councillor and push out another councillor who’s already been declared elected.

Under the Local Electoral Act he can cancel his mayoral nomination before the close of voting, and then everyone’s votes will just transfer to their next preference, but he’d not have the information he wants about other councillors if he cancelled it at that time.

He’d probably need to figure out a way to step back after seeing the preliminary election results but before the final result was declared, and hope the outcome was obvious enough from that, but doing so doesn’t seem clear cut.

Under the Local Electoral Act if he died or became incapable after voting closes but before declaration of the final result, then it gets adjusted as if he’d not run at all. There doesn’t seem to be a comparable clause for if he simply decided he didn’t want to be Mayor, unless it hinges on the definition of the word “incapable”… but it’d be odd for him to be incapable of being Mayor but capable of being a councillor. He’s committed to the possibility of having to be Mayor from the time of the close of voting, and if he’s elected but doesn’t want it then he can’t stay on the council even if a ward had elected him.

Can anyone else see a technical way around this for him?