Former Darwin Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis has backflipped on his earlier acceptance of the city’s mayoral election result, declaring he will not recognise it as “real” or “fair”.
In a social media post on Sunday, less than 24 hours after conceding that “we have to accept the results”, Mr Vatskalis alleged electoral fraud had taken place.
He accused new Mayor-elect Peter Styles of “manipulating the democratic process” and criticised his record as a former deputy chief minister, saying Mr Styles had been “complicit in selling TIO and the Port of Darwin without any public consultation”.
Mr Vatskalis argued that had runner-up Julia Fraser won the election, his response would have been “completely different”.
“Let me make it clear, the people have voted but under the current circumstances I will not accept the result as real and/or fair when an electoral fraud, in my opinion, has been committed and for which I have lodged a formal complaint with the NTEC,” he stated.
“This not something I am doing for myself but to make sure that people who manipulate maliciously the democratic process to their benefit should be held accountable…”
The accusations follow formal complaints lodged by Mr Vatskalis and other candidates over fake how-to-vote cards, which prompted NT Police to launch an investigation.
Mr Styles has also submitted his own complaint but rejected suggestions of wrongdoing, noting another candidate had already claimed responsibility.
Source: NT News
