To become a candidate you must be enrolled as a voter in the municipality in which you wish to stand.
You are not eligible to stand for election if:
- you are an undischarged bankrupt;
- your property is subject to control under the law relating to bankruptcy;
- you are of unsound mind;
- you have been convicted of certain criminal offences (within seven years of the election);
- you work for the council in which you intend to become a councillor;
- you are a councillor with another council; or
- you are are a Federal Member of Parliament or a Member of Parliament in any state or territory.
Further information and requirements are outlined in the
Local Government Act 1989 (external link) and the
Local Government Amendment (Conflicting Duties) Bill 2009 (external link).
If you are employed by any Federal or State Member of Parliament as a Ministerial Officer, a Parliamentary Adviser or an Electorate Officer, you are eligible to stand for election, but will not be eligible to take office without first resigning from your Parliamentary position. You must also take leave from any of these positions and not perform any of your duties for these positions during the election period.
Prospective candidates are encouraged to use the VEC's online Candidate Helper, which will guide you through each part of the nomination form. It saves time at the election office by allowing candidates to check and change details before the form is submitted. The Candidate Helper generates a form that can be printed out and issued with a barcode. This form must be delivered in person, with the appropriate deposit, to the Returning Officer for processing. The Returning Officer will check the form and if all the details are complete, it will be accepted.
A regular, printable nomination form will also be available on the nomination forms page during local council elections or by-elections.
Candidates who don't use the Candidate Helper will have to wait while the data is manually entered into the VEC's computer system.
Nominations must be made by 12 noon on nomination day at the relevant Election Office. Nomination day is 32 days before election day.
Late nominations cannot be accepted.
Each candidate nomination must be accompanied by a deposit of $250. The nomination deposit must be paid in cash or by cheque drawn on a bank, building society or credit union. Personal cheques or money orders cannot be accepted. Cheques should be made payable to the 'Victorian Electoral Commission'.
The deposit will be returned if the candidate:
- is elected; or
- if the total number of first preference votes received by the candidate is not less than four percent of the total number of first preference votes received by all candidates at the election.
All other candidates will forfeit their deposits.
For further information please see the latest Candidate Handbook.
Candidates must be on the voters roll for the municipality in which they intend to stand. The voters roll includes:
Candidates can stand for election for any ward within the municipality, even if their enrolled address is outside that ward.
Candidates will be provided with an electronic copy of the roll for the election they are contesting, free of charge. This file can be printed if required and will be in a format suitable for looking up names and mail-merging letters.
Each candidate must personally sign an electoral roll confidentiality agreement to ensure that the data is used solely for campaign purposes in relation to the election.
All copies of the roll that are provided to candidates must be destroyed or returned after the declaration of the result for that election.
Please read the page on how-to-vote cards for specific information about registering and distributing how-to-vote cards.
There is no public funding for candidates in local council elections and by-elections.
If, at the close of nominations or on the retirement of a candidate, there are only enough nominations to fill the number of vacancies advertised, the Returning Officer must declare the nominated candidates elected and give public notice of their election.
Candidates should see what happens if there aren't many candidates for more information.
