Cliffhanger election count for Bunbury Mayor hot seat won by Jaysen Miguel’s 103 vote lead on Amanda Yip

Jaysen De San Miguel has been declared the new City of Bunbury mayor after a gripping count on Saturday that saw him cross the finish line by just 103 votes. Mr De San Miguel, councillors Amanda Yip and Tresslyn Smith, and Dolphin Discovery Centre chief executive David Kerr emerged as clear frontrunners early in the count, which remained neck-and-neck throughout the evening. But 103 votes was the difference that saw Mr De San Miguel edge out runner-up Cr Yip (1393) to claim victory with 1496 votes. Cr Smith (1021) and Mr Kerr (922) finished close behind, followed by Gabi Ghasseb (733), Michelle Steck (515), Michael Southwell (505), Betty McCleary (403), Cheryl Kozisek (373) and Alfred Leigh (169). Mr De San Miguel told the Herald he was both relieved and incredibly proud to be awarded the top job. “I knew it was always going to be a close count so I’m feeling incredibly relieved and overjoyed to get out on top,” he said. Mr De San Miguel said he believed his “grassroots campaign” and community connections helped get him over the line. “I’ve got strong family ties and club connection ties in my sporting groups here, so I’ve really been trying to get our young people voting,” he said. “We really worked on that and word-of-mouth and getting people talking about me and I think that hopefully got us over the line in the end, but it’s so close that every vote counts and we really pushed that as well. “The mayor isn’t a one person job — having all those people supporting me was just so incredible. I’m very, very proud and thankful.” Mr De San Miguel said the other candidates shared similar ideas, which showed many people wanted the same thing for Bunbury’s future. He said he was eager to start working closely with the new council and excited to “get straight into it”. “I’m looking forward to continuing to build good relationships with the current councillors and new councillors and making sure we get council going forward in the right direction as a team,” he said. The Bunbury City Council has welcomed three fresh faces and three returning members after Saturday’s count, which was led by Marina Quain (3793) after Mr De San Miguel’s votes (3872) were voided when he was elected mayor. Mr Ghasseb (3469) and Ben Andrew (3379) will also join seasoned councillors Karen Steele (3644), Cr Smith (3583) and Cr Steck (3122) to serve for the next four years. Candidates Matt Foreman (3051), Parthasarathy Ramesh (2956), Dave Chandler (2579), Mark Chadwick (2311), Daniel Singleton (921) and Wayne Chattillon (908) were unsuccessful. Mayoral voting turnouts were down from 35.10 per cent of electors in 2017 to 32.49 per cent this year, with 7694 formal ballots cast including 164 informal entries. Council voting increased, with 7655 council ballots cast including 53 informal votes — a turnout rate of 32.55 per cent of electors, up from 28.55 per cent in 2019.