THE uproar over ‘Wilma-gate’ is set to ignite again next week when the results of the Warrnambool City Council elections are known.
Three city council candidates embroiled in the scandal, Crs Peter Hulin, Jennifer Lowe and Mr Peter Sycopoulis, face a tense wait this weekend to see if they will be elected.
If any one of them is not, it is understood that all three will cry foul with a strong possibility that they will push for a criminal investigation.
They are outraged by a letter published in The Standard last Saturday, mocking them as being like figures from Monty Python’s The Life of Brian.
The letter, sent from email address mswwright@hotmail.com was purported to have been written by ‘Wilma Wright of Hopkins Point Road, Warrnambool’.
Chief executive Bruce Anson’s adult son Jacob later admitted he was behind the pseudonym and his father has said that Jacob was acting alone.
Crs Hulin and Lowe and Mr Sycopoulis are not commenting until the results of the election are known, but they believe the letter was a deliberate attempt to sway voters against them.
They have called for a top-level government probe and also want the Victoria Police to look at the matter.
Falsification of documents is an offence under the Crimes Act.
Voting closed at 6pm last night and votes will be counted tomorrow.
Warrnambool City Council election returning officer Russell Isaac said by Thursday night 73 per cent of votes had been received.
“Wednesday, Thursday and Friday have been busy,” he said.
“We’ll say more than steady.”
There are 25,133 people on the Warrnambool City Council electoral role.
An official declaration of the votes counted has been set down for Monday.