Frontrunner emerges in Rockhampton’s mayoral by-election

On Sunday evening, the unofficial vote count stood at nearly 80 per cent, while the official first-preference count was sitting at little more than 45 per cent.

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However, current Rockhampton councillor Tony Williams held a healthy lead in both counts.

In the unofficial count, he had 10,810 votes – equating to 24.88 per cent – while in the confirmed first-preference count, he had 5895 votes, equating to 23.14 per cent.

The nearest challenger was Russell Claus – an urban strategist for Livingstone Shire Council – who had 6748 votes (15.53 per cent) in the unofficial count and 3972 votes (15.59 per cent) in the official first-preference count.

In third place was Chris “Pineapple” Hooper – an anti-Adani activist – with…